Region:  Great Western, Victoria

Variety:  Shiraz 100%

Alcohol:  14%

Winemaker:  Adam Wadewitz

Cellaring:  This wine needs time to reveal its true character, 5 - 20 yrs +. It would be the perfect accompaniment to a winter meal of seared venison by a log fire

Colour:  Inky garnet with a vermillion hue

Bouquet:  Slightly closed then gradually opening to reveal a heady mixture of black fruits, bitter chocolate, dried flowers, white pepper and innumerable secondary aromas including leather, liquorice and tobacco

Palate:  Ultra-rich tightly structured liquored fruits. The seductive fruit, tannin, acid mix persists longingly in the mouth

The Thomson Family Shiraz is produced from Henry Best's original 1865 Shiraz plantings, and only available in exceptional years, on average about six times a decade. The vines are capped at less than two tonnes per acre (four tonnes per hectare) and are then meticulously hand-harvested, selected and sorted. Thomson Family Shiraz was first made in 1993, one hundred years after the Thomson family settled in the area.  It is produced predominantly from the fifteen rows of vines planted by Henry Best, recorded as "Hermitage" by Henry in his daily journal. Today the clone is referred to by the CSIRO as the Concongella clone and it is the mother clone of all subsequent shiraz plantings at Best's Great Western.  

Thomson Family Shiraz is hand harvested, hand plunged and fermented in small open fermenters and the wine ls only produed in years when the quality is second to none. The Langton's Classification is "Outstanding."