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Climate
Coonawarra is considered a cool climate.
Often in a cooler
climate, the bunches on the vine still have the same number of grapes as
warmer wine regions, yet the grapes stay smaller,
increasing the amount of grape skins versus juice ratio. As the majority
of flavours come from the skins of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes
this creates a rich full bodied wine.
Soil
To ensure great quality grapes the soil needs to be well drained, so the
grapes do not get too much water in turn keeping them small. By having control over
the volume of water we can can "stress" our vines, fooling them into thinking it is
running out of water. Once stressed, a vine will begin to channel all
their energy into making the grapes sweeter.
Oak
Only one percent of Australia's wine is put into new oak barrels. The
cost of a French oak barrel which holds only 300 litres is over $1000.
Therefore most wine made cannot afford to be placed in new barrels. Many use
oak chips dipped into the stainless steel tanks which hold the wine. Oak
chips, however, rarely manage to convey the depth of flavours into the
wine a close grain oak barrel can. We place one third of all of our red
wines into French oak each year giving them soft vanilla flavours.
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