LEEUWIN Estate Art Series Shiraz 2007

Robert Parker Score: 91 points

Reviewer: Lisa Perrotti-Brown — 19131 Oct 2010

Drink 2012–2019

Turning to the reds, from 100% estate grown fruit and matured in French oak (36% new) for 18 months, the 2007 Art Series Shiraz has a deep garnet purple color and complex earthy, peppery varietal aromas over cassis, blackberry, cloves and a hint of pencil shavings. With medium to high, fine grained tannins and medium to high acid, this medium to full-bodied wine finishes long. Drink it 2012 to 2019+.

“Back in the 1970s Margaret River was dying – the wine business established it,” Leeuwin Estate’s Denis Horgan told me as we gazed over his impressive winery, restaurant and concert hall operation. “This area used to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country previously.” Have a brief drive around Margaret River and its environs and you’ll soon know that the region’s lifeblood these days is wine and its heart is Horgan’s Leeuwin Estate, established in 1975. Never one to do things by half, Horgan’s continually high standards at Leeuwin maintains it as one of the region’s benchmarks. Since Bob Cartwrights’s retirement as Chief Winemaker, Paul Atwood, who is a bit of an institution himself having already made wine there for more than 13 years, has adeptly filled his shoes. Prelude Chardonnay is made just like the Art Series but is blended from a selection of cuvees for earlier drinking. It receives no indigenous ferments and no oxidative handling. The key difference is that there is more forward fruit in Prelude than the Art Series, which is of course designed to age. About 2/3 of the total Chardonnay blocks are fermented in 100% new oak, so that equates to around 40% new oak on the Prelude and it usually spends about 1 year in barrel. The Chardonnays don’t normally go through malo-lactic but for example Paul told me they did use 25% in 2006 because it was a cool vintage. The final difference is that Prelude uses some purchased fruit whereas Art Series is always 100% estate grown.