2009 Hunter Valley Petit Verdot
It was Alasdairs idea to plant Petit Verdot at Capercaillie back in 2001 when we reworked the top part of the vineyard and replaced 2 acres of old Chardonnay vines. His aim was to add another interesting wine to the line-up, something that would be a bit different. The first crop yield was only 129kg and until the vines started to produce some decent fruit a few years later, we sold the grapes to another Hunter winery. Alasdair was planning to use the fruit at Capercaillie once the vines had become more established and mature, either as a straight varietal or part of our classic Clan blend.
One of the traditional black grape varieties approved for blending in Bordeaux, winemakers generally use the Petit Verdot grape as chefs would use seasoning. The spice box contribution this grape adds to wine is dense fruit, dark colour, powerful flavours and robust tannins.
The 2009 vintage was fairly wet through February which proved very challenging for this late ripening variety. The Petit Verdot was therefore a little lighter in body than it may have been, but it still had rich fruit characters which were quite different from our other red wines, hence we decided it would be nice to make it into a straight varietal. At the final blending we added 10% Wrattonbully Petit Verdot from the 2008 vintage (the balance of which will eventually go into our 2008 Clan Cabernet Blend) to add just a little complexity.
This wine is dense in colour with brilliant crimson hues. The bouquet has aromas of freshly ground coffee, cinnamon and cloves with hints of pencil shavings and sweet black fruits. The palate is intensely savoury and earthy but also has pronounced flavours of dark olives and lifted black cherry. The tannin structure is impressive with a good long finish. Enjoy now or for long term cellaring, it should prove to be good accompaniment to robust country meat casseroles and slow cooked braises with strong flavours.
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