2015 Shadowfax Little Hampton Pinot Noir

Shadowfax

Australia / Werribee / Shadowfax

The first Pinot Noir Shadowfax has released from its recently purchased Little Hampton Vineyard. At 700m above sea level, this is one of the highest and coolest vineyards in the Macedon Ranges. An even flowering and careful canopy management resulted in an excellent crop of Pinot Noir with lifted aromatics and beautiful varietal flavours.
All fruit was hand-picked and naturally fermented in open vats. Half the fruit was added as whole bunches, the balance lightly destemmed. After 27 days on skins the new wine was transferred to new (35%) and used French hogsheads for MLF and maturation. The wine was bottled in February 2016.
Medium red, with excellent clarity and a dense red edge. A complex nose of spicy Pinot fruit, some red cherries, bay leaf and a hint of forest undergrowth. A wonderful, complex palate. The wine is bright and dense but wonderfully light on its feet. Red cherries, some sappy spice, framed by very fine tannins. A wonderful expression of cool grown Pinot Noir, which will age beautifully with careful cellaring.

October, 2016

Campbell Mattinson

The Wine Front

94+ points

Fancy booze. Plush and sappy at once. Spicy as all get-up. Strung with herbs, gently bitter, a little challenging and yet a lot seductive, all in one package. Its light and fragrant, powerful and impressive – yes, all those things. Texture here is terrific. Tannin is in a good place; length far exceeds the norm. But the combination of complexity and texture is really the thing here. It’s going to age magnificently.

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About Shadowfax

Shadowfax has taken tremendous strides in recent times, with the team refining the range and proving their prowess with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Their single-vineyard Chardonnays have taken out Best Chardonnay at the Macedon Ranges Wine Exhibition no fewer than five times. Especially noteworthy have been the Little Hampton Vineyard in Macedon's high-altitude plantings of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, in the chilliest region of Australia’s mainland. These are the vibrant future of Australia’s cool-climate wine scene. The counterpoint to this is the dynamic Minnow project, based around the Werribee vineyard’s southern French varieties. The name is both a reflection of the grapes’ underdog status and a clever play on “Minervois”, a southern French appellation where these kinds of blends are common. It's the source of bright, spicy, textured rosé and reds, with the micro-make Mondeuse immediately becoming a delicious cult hit. With long-serving vineyard manager and assistant winemaker Alister Timms taking the helm in October 2017, these are hugely exciting times for Shadowfax.

About

Shortly after completing this second degree, Alister started working at Shadowfax as Assistant Winemaker, a position he held for three years before moving back home to run his family’s winery, Kilgour Estate. In 2008, Alister returned to Shadowfax to manage the winery’s various vineyards and establish the Little Hampton property in the Macedon Ranges, whilst working as Assistant Winemaker to Matt Harrop. When Matt decided to leave Shadowfax in October 2017, after almost 20 years as winemaker, Alister was the obvious choice as his replacement. “I look forward to building on the foundation that we’ve created over the years and seeing our vineyards reach their full potential, and to follow that through in the winery.”