Shingleback Davey Estate Shiraz 2012

With an early budburst and flowering, as well as low bunch numbers and small bunches, 2012 was always going to be an early vintage. The summer was warm, with strong gully winds that tested some of the more exposed vineyards. In many cases crops were less than half the average but the intensity of colour, flavour and deliciously chewy tannins was amplified, heralding a great vintage. We picked our first white, Semillon, on February 8th and were well into Shiraz by late February. Sugar levels climbed quickly and in a very timely fashion nature delivered 60mm of rain on the last day of the month. Luckily, canopies dried quickly and there was no splitting. This resulted in the slowing down of the vintage and allowed us to achieve an ideal balance in the vineyard and to lavish the attention the exceptional fruit deserved in the winery. We finished harvest on March 20th with the exception of the last of the Cabernet and some Shiraz left out for fortified production. 2012 was an exceptional vintage for The Davey Estate and across McLaren Vale.