Centenary Hill

Centenary Hill™ Barossa Shiraz is a wine that stands out as an icon, a testament to Orlando’s legacy in South Australia, and the love of the Barossa.

Colour

Dark crimson red with purple hues

Aroma

A very complex nose exhibiting sub regional notes of chocolate and spices on the savoury spectrum, with bursts of plum, dark berry and bright whole bunch fermentation characters

Taste

Simultaneously delicate yet dense The bright berry characters derived from whole bunch fermentation balance beautifully with the darker more brooding iodine and peat notes from traditional long duration skin contact There is great poise on the palate, starting with dark fruit before moving through to more savoury notes, then finishing with well resolved tannins and nuances of new French and American oak

Complements

Rare beef rib eye with Bearnaise sauce

Ideal Drinking Window

Now to 2030

Harvest Date

March 2018

Bottling Date

February-March 2015

Vineyards

Sourced entirely from old vine blocks in the Southern Barossa, which are known to impart regional savoury flavours of dark chocolate and spice as well as dark berry and cherry fruits. The vine age produces small, low yielding crops with intensely flavoured berries, which lend dense red colour and ripe sweet tannins to the wine.

Vintage Conditions

Above average rain in the winter preceding the 2015 vintage, set up the soil moisture for a great start to the growing season. Combined with a warmer than average spring, the vines got away to an excellent start, although some late spring frosts did affect yields. A cool January allowed the vines to develop flavours in sync with berry ripening, and some rain at this time supplemented the vines. A dry February, with cool nights enabled the grapes to ripen evenly with no disease pressure, resulting in an outstanding vintage in the Barossa.

Winemaking

Four separate parcels went into making the 2015 Orlando Centenary Hill Shiraz. A combination of small open fermenters and some enclosed static fermenters were used to impart different characteristics to the component wines. Two parcels underwent traditional destem and crush procedures prior to ferment, while the other two retained a portion of whole bunches. Time on skins varied from 11 days for the whole bunch components to 14 days for those fully destemmed. This enabled the capture of the bright “bunchy” flavours without too much extraction of tannin from the stems. The longer extraction of 14 days for the destemmed components, delivered more brooding dark fruits, sweeter rounder tannins and structure to the wine. The parcels were matured in a variety of oak for 18 months – predominantly new and old French oak hogsheads, along with a small selection of new American oak hogsheads.

Wine Analysis

Alc: 14.7%

TA: 6.2 g/L

pH: 3.57