Background
The Mount Edelstone vineyard, situated in the Eden Valley, was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas, who founded South Australia. Unusual for its time, the vineyard was planted solely to shiraz in ancient 55-million-year-old soils which are deep red-brown clay-loam to clay, resulting in low yields from nearly 96-year-old drygrown ungrafted vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952, it became recognised as one of Australia’s greatest shiraz wines.
2000 Vintage Drinking Window: 2000-2025
Vintage Description
Vintage 2000 vintage was small and early. Another drought winter, frost at the end of October, poor flower development in spring and the unseasonal cool temperatures in late October/early November led to yields. This was compounded by searing summer temperatures and a large amount of rain at the end of February - 100mm of rain over 24 hours courtesy of a tropical cyclone up north - which caused splitting of fruit, mould infections and subsequent shrivel and raisining. Overall, the whites are delicate with good flavor intensity while the reds are showing great potential for ageing.
Wine Description
The beautiful and historic name Mount Edelstone is a translation from the German Edelstein meaning ‘gemstone’, a reference to small yellow opals once found in the area. The Mount Edelstone vineyard was planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas who founded The South Australian Company and played a significant part in the formation and establishment of South Australia. Unusual for its time, the vineyard was planted solely to shiraz. The ancient 500-million-year-old geology in the vineyard has given rise to soils that are deep red-brown clay-loam to clay, resulting in low yields from the dry-grown, ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952 by fourth-generation Cyril Henschke; by the time Cyril purchased the vineyard from Colin Angas in 1974, Mount Edelstone was already well entrenched as one of Australia’s greatest shiraz wines.
Producer Tasting Notes: Deep crimson with red hues. Sweet and spicy with developed earthy, gamey hints and blackberry, plum, anise aromas, subtle vanilla notes and ferny hints. Rich with good intensity of fruit and texture across the palate, soft and full with excellent balance, velvety tannins and good length.
