Shiraz and Tahbilk are inextricably linked from our very beginnings in 1860.
At that time, one of Tahbilk’s founding fathers – John Pinney Bear placed an advertisement in leading newspapers across Australia asking for ‘One million strong vine cuttings’. His advertisement was reasonably successful with Tahbilk receiving around 600,000 cuttings and by the end of 1860, 61 hectares had been cleared and 26 hectares of vines planted – including Shiraz.
Early vintages were encouraging and Shiraz was being actively promoted and sold alongside other earlier plantings.
The outbreak of Phylloxera on the Estate in late 1900 led to some 40 hectares of the the Estate's then 120 hectares having to be destroyed but our 1860 plantings of Shiraz survived to continue the unbroken link.
With the Purbrick family taking ownership of Tahbilk in 1925 we saw further Estate plantings through the 1930s, 50s, 60s and 90s along with the early 2000s; that now see total Shiraz under vine of 30 hectares.
Each of these plantings contributes their own character and style to the various Estate Shiraz releases – the ‘1860 Vines’ (only one source here!), ‘Eric Stevens Purbrick’, Tahbilk Shiraz and component parts of our ‘Old Vines’ Cabernet-Shiraz and Rhone triple blend Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvedre. From the dense, solid older vine material through to the more sweet approachable fruit of the younger vines and all places in-between – some quite obvious, some more subtle – from show pony, to work horse; Tahbilk Shiraz has been delivering again and again since it all began.
Our Estate Shiraz is crafted with a commitment to traditional winemaking values. Fermentation takes place in original open vats well over 150 years old, with maturation then in similarly aged large French oak prior to bottling. Smaller French and American oak barrels are also used, with the wine from these blended back during the final filtering and bottling.
The result is fruit-driven wines of much flavour and substance generally showing lifted violets, spice, and clove aromas, the palate bold and bright with wild berry and plum fruits finishing with supple and savoury tannins.
Further cellaring has been proven over the years to develop added character and complexity with earthy, leather and cedary/cigar box qualities coming to the fore, the tannins softening and comfortably sitting in the background.
A most definite food-friendly wine.
When young the bold and fruit forward characters of Tahbilk Shiraz would be well suited to robust meat based stews, grilled or roast beef and strong hard cheeses especially cheddar. With some age look to game dishes of roast duck, venison or kangaroo and the leanness and delicate flavours of veal.
