2024 PHEASANT

In our opinion this is as close as "natural" Shiraz can get to "fine wine". No silly techniques here, made with extreme respect at every stage. Top quality organic fruit handpicked, gently processed and watched with careful eyes over a generous élevage in mature barrels to produce a wine with great weight with a plenty of length and fine tannins. Hands-off/eyes-on style.  

• Handpicked Organic Shiraz from Bridgewater

• Half hand-destemmed over remaining whole bunch

• 10 day maceration with minimal pigeage

• Wild ferment

• basket pressed to old french barriques for 13 months

• No sulphur or additives of any kind, at any stage

• No fining or filtering

TMI

Seeking a more localised grower of Shiraz we once again utilised Ed's wide fish net and came across Dave Lawson of Black Wallaby wines in Bridgewater through a friend of a friend. Dave is a second generation grape grower who seemingly sits in a rare realm of farmers that seek best possible quality fruit while keeping one eye on the growing's impact on the Earth rather than the more common focus on profits. No compromising in the vineyard just smart organic processes with a carelessly uncertified mindset. 

Carefully sorted handpicked fruit from the vineyard came in on the 20th of Feb, being the first fruit to enter our new space and the largest batch of the year. We wrangled a big crew of friends to help process from early arvo until early morning. While the majority of the fruit was hand loaded into the tiny bladder press for a Pet Nat we decided to utilise the extra hands and hand-destem a bin of fruit over the top of some whole bunches to make a red portion. The ripeness sat at a perfect level (12 Beume 3.2pH) that suited both a light red and a Pet Nat Rose with stems not too green and plenty of acid. The late night turned into a chaotic, wine fuelled event, dancing between Al's handmade destemmer to unloading and reloading the tiny bladder press what felt like 50 times over the course of the evening. A spider prank ended in an arachnophobic friend being bitten by a hunstman and everyone's clothes turning purple from the sweet grape juice felt like a perfect christening for the winery. 

The wine fermented to dryness over the following 10 days. Aiming for a lighter style like our previous Shiraz's, we held back on punchdowns and pumpovers. This lead to more subtle extraction and less greenness from the stems in the whole bunch portion. It was the first batch that we pressed through our brand new Italian basket press which arrived mid vintage. The unofficial 5th member of POOL is hand cranked (hydraulically assisted) and fits a good 1-1.5T of fruit in its big wooden basket. 

After pressing, the wine was left in a tank overnight to finish fermenting any of the sugar that was trapped in the whole bunch portion and then put to 3 seasoned french barriques for 12 months before bottling with no racking. 

This unnervingly clean and stable Shiraz is a perfect example of how close attention and uncompromising care can result in a precise and true natural wine.