Rocky Road Zinfandel 2009

TASTING NOTE

This is a fresh and vibrant lass with sweet tangelo perfume and a small handful of round rum and raisin curves. The body is light strawberry at first glance but seduces with the two berry's being `cran' and `black'. Some plucky tannin pulls your forward into a tie pulling, sinewy finish. Lighter bodies from a cooler later vintage.
She's a seductive damsel without overheating you too much.

THE SEASON

Spring 2008 was wet and blustery hampering the 2009 fruit set and reducing yields quite significantly. The cool summer meant that harvest started two and a half weeks after our normal start time. But with small crops come amazing intensity and quality. Due to a very late break in the season the red grapes were able to hang on long enough to achieve concentration and superb flavours.

VINEYARDS

Fruit is sourced from the Rocky Road vineyard which lies in the headwaters of the Chapman Brook, near Witchcliffe in the south of the Margaret River region. With a northerly aspect, the vines enjoy long days of sunshine, moderated by the vineyard’s southern location. All vines on the McHenry Hohnen vineyards are grown on a single bilateral cordon with a vertically trained canopy. It is a simple and practical format that maximises light penetration and maintains a balanced vine.

VINIFICATION

The family has been involved with zinfandel since the variety was first introduced to the region in 1972. The mother vines were imported from California, originating from a vineyard in Lodi.
Judging perfect ripeness is the only difficult winemaking decision due to the uneven ripening of bunches - a habit which is peculiar to this variety. The grapes are fermented in small open-top vats and plunged for colour, flavour and tannin extraction. Towards completion of the primary fermentation the skins are pressed and the wine is run to barrel for finishing and maturation. The wine is bottled in late summer prior to the next vintage.

Alcohol 14.5
pH 3.57
Acidity 6.2
Residual sugar .6

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