Balgownie Estate
Established by the now legendary winemaker Stuart Anderson in 1969, Balgownie Estate was the first vineyard planted in the Bendigo district in more than 80 years. The emergence of Balgownie Estate as a serious red wine producer in the 1970's led to the rapid expansion of the central goldfields wine growing region and was a significant player in the rebirth of the Victorian wine industry.
Balgownie Estate is one of Australia's great small vineyards famed for its long lived Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Established in 1969 by the highly regarded winemaker Stuart Anderson, the vineyard and winery are located at Maiden Gully near the historic gold mining town of Bendigo, just 150km northwest of Victoria's capital city Melbourne.
The Wine
The grapes for our Balgownie Estate Black Label are sourced from Bendigo, Central Victoria & Yarra Valley. This allows us to represent the very best of each of the regions surrounding our main estate vineyards. The 2008 Sparkling Shiraz combines the powerful ripe fruit flavours & spice of Bendigo and Heathcote.
FRUIT & WINEMAKING
The 2008 season was mild and cool until mid March. Our commitment to mulching continues to prove its worth; with the subsequent heat our vines proved to be amazingly heat tolerant and the soil water retentive. We are pleased with another harvest of small but intense and vibrant berries. This Shiraz fruit was aged in 25% new French oak for 12 months.
CHARACTERISTICS
The colour is brilliant deep ruby red and the aromas are attractive rich raspberry and spice. The taste is delicious, with rich beautifully balanced sweet fruit. It finishes surprisingly dry and long.
MEDIA
THE WINE FRONT. It’s made from a blend of grapes grown in Central Victoria and the Yarra Valley, and I have a feeling it is going to give a lot of people a lot of pleasure. It has a lovely style to it. Rich but racy. It is mostly about dark fruit flavours, bolstered by a lick of chocolatey/coffeed oak, though it leaves a fresh tangy taste in your mouth – there’s almost a velvet-ness here. It tastes good and feels nice on your tongue. It needs another year in the bottle (or maybe around Christmas) to start showing its best but there’s good promise here.
Crownseal. Drink 2010-13. 91 points.
CUISINE
Crisp roasted pork belly or your classic Christmas lunch, roast turkey.
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WINERY RATING |
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| James Halliday, |
Australian Wine Companion 2009 |
