Just a super smooth dark fruit Shiraz, slips down the tonsils superbly. A ripping vintage producing a seamless bright and clear Shiraz, more of a significant smooth & complex wine providing a gentle pat on the back rather than a punch directly to the nose - this is soulful, rich, mellow and beautifully integrated with nice oak.
Varietal characters of plum, dark fruit, and sweet spices are all evident on the nose, with a medium bodied palate of cherries and blackberries balanced with subtle tannins. This is a great option for immediate drinking, or a few years of extra cellaring will allow the flavours to further develop. We've managed to get our hands on a tidy amount of this, but get in quick because once it's gone, it's over! Finding a good red for $10 or less, and finding a good shiraz can be a bit of a hard ask, but this wine makes for a deceptively easy, and enjoyable drink perfect for mates, footy, mid week dinner or the Saturday paper.
THE WINERY:
The O'Dea Family, believing that Cowra's potential as a grape-growing region could only be reached by processing its own fruit locally, have invested in a state of the art winery - completed in time for the 1999 vintage. The winery was erected on a hillside overlooking the magnificent vista of the Estate's vineyard.
The vision for the winery was to combine the latest technology with traditional techniques, and most importantly to reduce the critical time between picking and crushing the grapes. Because the Windowrie Estate vineyards surround the winery, winemaking can begin within minutes of harvesting.
David O'Dea explains “having a winery close to the source of production allows the special attributes of the locality to be stamped onto the wine. Windowrie wines are estate grown and made on site at the winery.”
The winery is also accredited as an organic processor allowing the winery to make organic wine from organically grown grapes. The winery has the capacity to handle small volumes of fruit through to very large parcels up to 200 tonnes in one night.
In 2008, in an effort to increase the biodiversity of the winery site, Windowrie set aside 100000 square meters surrounding the winery to establish a regeneration project. The aim of the project is to increase biodiversity and to offset carbon production at Windowrie. The first of five thousand native trees and shrubs were planted in January 2008. Waste water from the winery will be treated and used to help establish the project. With support from the LCMA the plan is to return the entire area to its natural state by 2020.
