Bress 2007 Harcourt Valley Le Grand Coq Noir Shiraz

The Name

Whilst living and winemaking in the Yarra Valley, I discovered the joys of breeding and showing chickens.  This passion led me to visit France in 1996 to witness first hand their traditional methods of breeding chickens and I dedicate our wines to the famous chickens of France and what they represent – artisan production using traditional, age old methods.

The Vineyard

The fruit for this Harcourt Valley Shiraz was grown on the Bress property.  Our vineyard is farmed biodynamically and the vines are 25 years old.  The vines are trellised using the Vertical Shoot Positioning system.   In 2007 we experienced a very severe frost which resulted in seriously reduced yields.  Our Shiraz block produced less 500kgs of fruit but the quality was amazing. 

Winemaking

My winemaking belief is that good fruit should be treated gently and with minimal intervention.  The Bress 2007 Harcourt Valley Le Grand Coq Noir was treated in this manner.  We decided to ferment the grapes as whole bunches and foot trod the wine throughout its fermentation.   Fermentation was slow and was initiated by indigenous yeast strains. Post pressing the wine was transferred to a French oak hogshead for malolactic fermentation.  Following malolactic fermentation the wine was barrel to barrel racked using gravity and left in oak for 14 months.  The wine was bottled without fining or filtration and may deposit a harmless sediment.

This Bress Harcourt Valley Le Grand Coq Noir Shiraz was bottled using a Screw Cap closure. 

Using a Screw Cap closure is our attempt to ensure that our wine is presented free of cork characters (good or bad) and that the full aroma and flavour of this wine is expressed.  

Tasting Notes

Colour:  An intense and vibrant pungent crimson, almost ink blue. 

Aroma:  The wine offers a complex array of fruit aromas of black fruit, spice, cloves and plum.   The oak aromas are of char and vanillian spice. 

Palate:  The wine is tightly packed full of black fruit, spice, cloves, and plum.  The oak characters are beautifully integrated into the wine, giving the wine structure and adding power, balance and a savoury richness. 

This wine should be decanted prior to serving.

Whilst enjoyable now, this wine will reward careful cellaring for 10 years.

Please enjoy this traditionally made hand crafted wine.