Vine to Wine

The Shingleback Vineyard is located in the Willunga Basin at the southern end of the acclaimed McLaren Vale Wine Region in the State of South Australia . Brothers Kym and John Davey planted their family-owned estate vineyard on land their grandfather purchased in 1959. Their goal is to produce high-quality wines from select vineyard blocks through careful, hands-on vineyard management. Superior fruit is grown by managing canopies for balance through a moveable foliage wire system, hand-pruning, precise deficit irrigation, integrated pest management and attention to detail.
70% of the vineyard area is planted with selected clones of Shiraz , with the balance of plantings including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Semillon.
Rows are planted north to south to capture maximum sunlight. Vines are trained "one up - one down" to cover 3 m of cordon wire. This reduces shoot crowding and controls vigour, resulting in balanced canopies. Spacing is 1.5 m between vines and 3 m between rows.

 My last brief report was during the thick of vintage and I had high expectations for the 2010 wines. I can now report that the 2010 vintage is a ripper! Yields were around average except for Grenache which was very low due to hot weather at flowering. The vintage was orderly, the weather gods were kind, and the reds are richly structured with opulent fruit and the deep colour we expect from McLaren Vale.

Vintage started with Chardonnay on the 8th of February and finished with the last of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache on the 26th of March. There was a week or so between finishing the Shiraz and starting on the Cabernet Sauvignon. The only rain to speak of conveniently fell over two days just after the Shiraz was picked and assisted the steady ripening and development of flavours and tannins in the Cabernet.

Last vintage was generally an easy one in the winery with time available to lavish attention on every batch. Ferments were clean and finished dry with wines quickly completing malolactic fermentation. A good portion of the 2010 wines are already in barrel and, as the vintage is mostly bedded down, attention has now turned to racking and returning the barrels of 2009 wines. We have also been happily busy preparing and bottling 2008 wines and the first of the 2009 vintage. We have seen growth in our Australian, Canadian and Chinese markets and increased stability elsewhere.

Vintage 2011 started four weeks ago with pruning, which should be complete in a couple of weeks. Rainfall is now approaching the average for this time of year, and the vines are certainly getting their cold requirement, instilling confidence for the coming harvest.

Cheers

John Davey