Chapel Hill The Vicar Shiraz 2014

Chapel Hill Winery in McLaren Vale was built on the site of the Seaview Chapel and school house. The 1865 ironstone Chapel still stands today and is an integral feature of the popular tasting room. The winery founder, Thomas Nelson hand planted the vineyard on the estate commencing in 1972 and the first vintage was in 1975. Perched on the edge of the spectacular Onkaparinga Gorge in the elevated northern end of McLaren Vale.

Shallow rocky soils are a feature of the site with some of the geological formations dating back 600 million years. McLaren Vale’s maritime climate, influenced by the nearby Gulf St Vincent, provides excellent ripening conditions and minimal disease pressure. Under the guidance of winemakers Michael Fragos and Bryn Richards, Chapel Hill strives to hand craft wines with purity and balance. To pursue this belief, all of our grapes and wines are handled gently in small batches with a restrained winemaking philosophy. As a result there are no additions of any fining

The Vicar is Chapel Hill’s flagship wine and is an annual vineyard selection of Chapel Hill’s most outstanding and expressive parcels of McLaren Vale Shiraz This wine embodies our commitment to McLaren Vale, its regal variety and our belief in gentle and patient winemaking.

The 2014 Vicar Shiraz displays charismatic layers of blueberry, roasted fennel seeds and cured meats, which are seamlessly interwoven into the firm, but poised, savoury texture. The synergistic balance of the cascading layers of varietal flavour, palate weight, tannin and acidity will ensure that the wine will develop further complexity over the next 15 to 20 years.

The various vineyard parcels were harvested and fermented separately in small batch open fermenters. Gentle plunging was utilised for cap management and all of the ferments were left on skins for a minimum of 12 days. Following basket pressing the free run and pressing fractions were combined. During the subsequent twenty month oak maturation period the barrels were periodically racked and returned to ensure the integration of the tannins back into the structure of the wine. To preserve purity and character the wine is made without any tannin additions and is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The average winter rainfall and the soil profile fully wetted, the vines had a healthy start to the season. A series of heat events really tested the vines and the final heat event in mid-February was fortuitously followed by a rain event. This rain arrived at the perfect time, bringing welcome relief and slowing down what was looking to be a compacted harvest. Warm dry days and cool nights then persisted through harvest allowing the grapes to reach optimal ripeness and to progress through the winery in a very orderly fashion.