The Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz is hand crafted from fruit selected from the Great Southern’s Frankland River sub-region. The Frankland River is fast becoming recognised for its affinity to Shiraz and this site was specifically chosen and planted to vine in 1996 to become part of the Howard Park Single Vineyard series. As with all Howard Park wines, the vines are given extraordinary attention in the vineyard. Canopy management is designed to maximise fruit exposure to the sunlight and yields are kept low to achieve concentration in the grapes. The grapes are harvested according to flavour with little regard for analytical data. At completion of fermentation the Shiraz is pressed off into French oak barriques of which about 60% are new, the balance being 1 year old. The wine is then matured in barrel for approximately 18 months. The Scotsdale Shiraz is a deep, dark elegant Shiraz with a youthful purple rim. It mingles earthy and spicy aromas with a complex palate of ripe cherries, herbs, spices and cloves. This wine will reward the patient wine drinker with cellaring potential of five to eight years. In 2006 the Scotsdale Shiraz was nominated as one of James Halliday’s Top 100 Wines, was granted a Gold medal at the 2006 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge and nominated as one of the Top 100 Wines in Wine Enthusiast Magazine (USA). On its release in 2002 on its release, the 2000 Scotsdale Shiraz was crowned with a Trophy for the Divine State of Origin competition. According to West Australian Wine Writer Ray Jordan “The palate is pure heaven. In fact, if heaven was this good I would have made a better effort to get there”. The Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz proudly demonstrates the wonderful affinity of Shiraz to the Frankland River Region, the up and coming star of Shiraz in Australia.
The 2007 Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz is a dense purple wine with a black heart yet brilliant clarity. It displays lifted intense blackberry and dark plum fruit aromas and spices: traces of cinnamon, clove and anise evolve as the wine opens up. The primary fruits are complemented by dark chocolate and mocha complexity which will develop with further cellaring.
The palate of the 2007 Scotsdale Shiraz is still focused and tight, a youthful expression of Frankland Shiraz displaying great concentration but also elegance. Fleshy sweet black fruits with underlying Dutch licorice and five spice fill the mid-palate. The classy tannins are layered, fine and powdery adding great persistence to the finish.
Complete Tasting Note
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