Wines
2005 Kangarilla Road Shiraz
The 2005 vintage followed good soaking rains during the prior 2004 winter. The gentle Spring yielded excellent bud burst and early shoot growth with the resultant full canopies creating optimum ripening conditions. The summer of 2005 gave us mild daytime temperatures and typical cool nights. The resultant wines show intense fruit and excellent balancing acidity.
The wine was fermented in traditional open fermenters with heading board systems and in static open fermenters using gentle cap management techniques. The pressed wine was aged in a combination of 25% new French and American oak complemented with an even mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 year old oak.
The major percentage of this wine is from our McLaren Flat vineyards. These vineyards located at the northern part of the foothills ripen later than other sub-regions resulting in “cooler climate” spicy aromatic dark berry driven wines with intense mid to back palate presence and an abundance of soft velvety tannins. These wines tend to develop best in French oak, however second and third use American oak also provide great depth.
The second component is sourced from both the Blewitt Springs and Seaview areas where soils range from mostly deep sands to red earth on limestone. The resultant wines display spicy bold dark plum characters very important as a nuance to the 2005 wine.
The final component is from a vineyard in the Sellicks sub-region which is very close to the sea. Shiraz ripens early here also with very low yields; the wines have herbaceous characters with firm Cabernet like tannins.
Click here to download PDF file of tasting notes
| Colour: | Crimson with purple hues |
| Bouquet: | Aromas of spicy mulberry conserve and mixed berry fruits. |
| Palate: | A smooth mix of black and red berry fruits on the mid and back palate, combined beautifully with the abundance of soft tannins. |
| Alcohol: | 14.5% |
| pH: | 3.56 |
| TA: | 7.0 |
Reviews
| Publication: | Wine Advocate |
| Reviewer: | Robert Parker |
| Also stunning, the Shiraz boasts deep mocha, blackberry, cherry, and white chocolate notes interspersed with hints of new oak (both French and American wood are used), pepper, smoke, and coffee. This rich, layered, tasty Aussie red can be drunk now and over the next 7-8 years. | |
| Reviewer: | Campbell Mattinson |
| Purple with crimson hues. Ripe dark cherries and plum, dark berry fruit tinged with spices and anise. Full, long flavours of plum, spice and anise finishing along with the soft tannins. A lovely McLaren red with excellent length and intensity of fruit, bound together with gentle wood. Kangarilla Road is drinking beautifully. "This is what McLaren Vale Shiraz is all about. Full, soft, generous and savoury-sweet, with milk chocolate flavours coating all that syrupy blackberry. It's not overdone and yet there's plenty there, with red berry nuances eyeing the edges and a fair crack of tasty toastiness on the finish. Delish!" | |
| Publication: | The Weekend Australian Magazine |
| Reviewer: | Max Allen |
| For the last three or four vintages, this has been a contender for the best value McLaren Vale shiraz. Inky black in colour, with all the regional sweet blackberry fruit and warm, mouth-coating chocolate impact you'd want, balanced by a spicy, juicy edge and fine tannins. | |
| Publication: | Vogue Entertaining and Travel |
| Reviewer: | Greg Duncan Powell |
| Dollar for dollar, this is one of the best value Shirazes in the entire country. Drink it young, old and in between. | |
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