2015 Shadowfax Macedon Pinot Noir

Shadowfax

Australia / Werribee / Shadowfax

***Regional Trophy Winner, VIC100 Wine Awards***
Fruit from Spring Hill, Midhill and Little Hampton vineyards. The Macedon Ranges is the coolest winegrowing region on the mainland, perfect for Pinot Noir. Good winter rains and an even flowering resulted in an excellent crop of Pinot Noir with fantastic flavours and excellent colour.
All fruit was hand-picked and naturally fermented in open vats. Up to 30% whole clusters were included in each ferment, adding aromatics and perfume. After 22 days on skins, the new wine was transferred to new (20%) and used French hogsheads for MLF and maturation. The wine was bottled in February 2016.
Medium red, bright edge. The nose shows black and red plum, Chinese five spice, some Campari-like perfume. A complex and engaging bouquet that evolves in the glass. Blue fruits, spice and bunch-derived cherry pip flavours on the palate. Textural and bright, with fine tannins framing the palate from front to back. It is tense and nervy as a youngster, and will continue to grow with time in the bottle. A wonderful expression of Macedon; poised and delicious.

James Halliday

Halliday Magazine

93 points

Sourced from three vineyards in the ranges, wild-fermented in open vats, with 35% whole bunches, 22 days on skins, matured in French hogsheads (20% new). The colour is good, announcing a very complex wine. Its fruit is dark-berry oriented, satisfying in itself, but its whole bunch savoury, spicy, earthy texture marks it as something special, and well worth cellaring.

September, 2016

Nick Stock

VIC100 Wine Awards

95 points

Really smart cool climate pinot with plenty of red cherry fragrance, sappy herbs, oak spices and gently earthy undergrowthy notes. The palate's bathed in bright crunchy strawberry and cherry fruit flavours, plenty of tannin crunch and a long, fresh and succulent finish. Great wine, super fresh, drink now.

October, 2016

Campbell Mattinson

The Wine Front

93 points

It creeps up on you. It starts slow and muted but various complexities and charms rouse as it breathes. Undergrowth, herbage, macerated cherries, woodspice. Smoked chicory. Sap. It’s forming slowly, revealing its wares at its own pace. There’s plenty of lively acidity but more than enough flavour too. It’s heading in an excellent direction. Length is assured. It’s an immaculate pinot noir. Ultra-fine tannin too.

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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. This is 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.”