Taylors St Andrews Shiraz 2014

Taylors was established in 1969, three generations ago when Bill Taylor senior and his sons found a site on the Wakefield River in the Clare Valley. The site was 178 hectares on famed terra rossa, red brown loam over limestone soil, perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon, combined with the Clare Valley climate of warm days and cool nights, creating precision and structure in their wines. 

The growing season in the lead up to vintage 2014 saw average autumn and winter rainfalls on the Taylor family Clare Valley estate vineyards. During winter, the average daily maximum temperature was in line with long term averages, resulting in the first budburst occurring at the normal time of late August. The rainfall for spring was below average; however vine vigour was still good due to the presence of subsurface moisture from regular winter rains. During the first week of December there was a cool change and 16 mm of rain fell. This provided the vines with welcome opportunity to 'freshen up'. The remainder of December and the first half of January were dry and warm with thankfully no heatwaves due to regular cool changes. From mid-January to mid-February however, hot conditions prevailed which delayed veraison. Harvest commenced relatively early due to hot conditions through most of January and February. On February 14 the hot conditions and indeed harvest were both bought to a sudden stop by a big downpour of rain. For the remainder of February conditions were mild with daytime temperatures cooler than average. These cooler conditions retained acid levels in grapes and slowed sugar development thus crucially allowed time for the all-important flavours to develop. The mild conditions continued through March, allowing ideal, even tannin and flavour development to occur in the red varieties.