Nugan Estate Third Generation Shiraz 2020
When tasting the wine, on the nose we have lifted berry fruit aromas with a hint of earth and some pepper. On the palate, lifted berry fruits, some spice and silky tannins.
Deep purple in appearance with youthful crimson hues. Lifted ripe berry fruit aromas, with hints of earth, pepper and dark chocolate complimented by sweet red berry fruit flavours with spice and a silky tannin finish.
This wine goes perfectly with red meat dishes, particularly beef. Managing Director, Matthew Nugan, loves to have the Third Generation Shiraz with a steak, but it also goes terrifically with spaghetti bolognaise. We hope you enjoy this wine from our third generation winery.
We harvest the Third Generation Shiraz in the cool of night to preserve its delicate flavours. We then crush and ferment this wine in stainless steel tanks. The wine then receives some aging with predominantly American oak, but also some French oak.
Nugan’s Riverina vineyard fruit parcel was mechanically harvested in the cool of night and delivered to the winery (nearby) for destemming and cold maceration for 48 hours at 10°C. Whole berry primary fermentation took place in small static fermenters at 24°C, with a specialized yeast strain that is respectful to varietal characters, minimizes vegetative notes and imparts esters. The wine remained on skins for a further 10 days, enabling tannin polymerization and color fixing, prior to pressing to French and American Oak for 12 months maturation. Their old vine, premium, McLaren Vale Shiraz was fermented separately, and aged for in French oak barrels. This parcel receives post ferment maceration and plunging for several weeks beforehand. During final formulation, this parcel is carefully used during trial work in the winery lab before any is incorporated in the final blend by our chief winemaker team. Following this process, the new cuvee is settled in tank, before being bottled. Stylistically, the winemaker is chasing a complex, yet fruity style of Shiraz with structure and length.
An incredibly mild summer with above average rainfall is largely responsible for prolonging the harvest which ensured slow even ripening of the fruit. We harvest the fruit for this Shiraz at optimum ripeness in the cool of the night to preserve delicate fruit flavours. After picking, the fruit was crushed and fermented in static tanks with automatic irrigators. Thereafter, the wine underwent cool fermentation to maintain a fruit driven style with some components receiving French oak during fermentation to add complexity and structure.
Soil types: Hanwood Loam. Alluvial medium silty clay loam over medium red clay.
Aspect of vineyard: Very old, flat alluvial river plain. Soil Nutrition: Moderate fertility, low salinity, neutral pH, with good levels of Calcium, Boron and Zinc. Climate: Hot, Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and moderate rainfall in the winter months. Clone planted: SA1654 and PT23 planted in 1999. Rootstock: Own roots Trellis system: Single tier, sprawling system, without manual manipulation. Planting distance: 3.3m x 1.8m
Irrigation: Drip irrigation
Harvest dates: Typically, mid-March.
