2004 MadFish Gold Turtle Shiraz Tasting Notes

The 2004 MadFish ‘Gold Turtle” Shiraz is the first release of a special wine made exclusively for the Australian market from grapes specially selected from our Frankland River vineyards. Since the inaugural MadFish Shiraz in 1994 we have sourced Shiraz grapes from the major premium grape regions of Western Australia, including Margaret River, Blackwood Valley, Pemberton/Manjimup and Frankland River. As vines have matured from the explosion of plantings in the mid 1990’s it has become self evident that Shiraz has a remarkable affinity for the climate and soil aspects of Frankland River; deep inland in the lower South West of Western Australia. The continental climate and the gravely well drained loams produce Shiraz grapes with prodigious depth of colour, dark black cherry aromas and a distinctive black pepper spicy character that has become the trademark character of Frankland River Shiraz.
This Gold Turtle Shiraz celebrates the best of Frankland River Shiraz from the wonderful 2004 vintage. Both the 2002 and 2003 seasons were reasonably low yielding wine grape harvests due largely to inclement conditions around the vine flowering time which occurs in spring. Windy and un-seasonally cool conditions at that time for both of these vintages compromised fruit set producing smaller bunches with fewer berries. By contrast the weather during spring 2003, the time of budburst and flowering for the 2004 season was very good; cool but sunny with little wind meant that fruit set was the fullest seen since 2001. The ripening conditions throughout the 2004 season remained good to excellent with only a few isolated incidences of rainfall, mainly along the south coast which did not affect Shiraz quality. Red grapes in 2004 show the benefit of a warm; not hot and relatively dry growing season with strong colour development, ripe flavour characteristics and mature tannin structure.
The grapes for this wine were identified and allocated in the vineyard as of superior quality, fermentation in open stainless steel tanks with twice daily pumpovers aided fruit and tannin development. A very small amount of Viognier was co-fermented with the Shiraz aiding colour stability and enhancing the complexity of the wine aroma. The wine was matured in new, 1, 2 and 3 year old French oak for 12 months. The objective was to produce an elegant Shiraz with complex aromas and characters and with texture and structure that would reward cellaring, the use of French oak instead of traditional American oak gives rise to a wine of greater sophistication.

The 2004 MadFish ‘Gold Turtle’ Shiraz is an outstanding wine of great depth and complexity which represents a new leap of quality in the already highly regarded MadFish line up. The wine has a dense blood red appearance with a dark black heart indicating the concentration of the Shiraz fruit from the 2004 vintage. The nose is full of dark cherry fruits with the spicy, peppery hints that have become signature characteristics of Frankland River Shiraz. Aromatic tones of ripe berries with a hint of violets, perhaps derived from the Viognier are backed by an almost chocolaty character and restrained and cedar like oak. The palate is rich and concentrated without being heavy and tannic allowing the wine to be enjoyed in its youth without gripping astringency. There is great depth of ripe cherry flavour with more complex peppery characters. The wine displays the sweet fleshy fruity middle palate that makes good cool climate Australian Shiraz so attractive.

The 2004 MadFish Shiraz has sufficient fruit to allow early consumption but would benefit from medium term (8 years) aging.