2005 The Donald - Barossa Zinfandel
Tasting Notes
The nose shows characters consist of dark fruit, spice and dense Christmas pudding. Flowing onto the palate, these characters are thick and rich, even entering into the realms of panforte. All are supported by subtle tarry notes with firm, but fine tannins, which help create an attractive elegance to the wine.
Viticulture
The vineyard is located on the western range of the Barossa in the Seppeltsfield area with a soil profile of red clay over limestone. The rows run north ñ south and have a subtle northerly aspect. Although the vineyard is pruned to produce low yields, the block always needs to be thinned to about 2t / acre, as Zinfandel often throws a prolific crop naturally. With mild summer conditions, the vines grew relatively stress free and required minimal irrigation. Flavour was reached at the expected time of the vintage as Zinfandel is a medium ripener, coinciding with slightly elevated sugar levels, with the resultant wine being rich and powerful.
Vinification & Maturation
With approximately 20% berry dimpling (ie slight shrivelling), the fruit was hand picked disease free. Once at the winery the fruit was de-stemmed, but not crushed, evenly into two fermenters and inoculated with different commercial yeast strains to gain more complexity in the finished wine. The musts of both fermenters were chilled and cold macerated for 2 days and then allowed to warm up naturally for fermentation to proceed. Fermentation was even and lasted roughly 7 days in each fermenter with a maximum temperature of 28oC. Average total time on skins was 14 days. Both fermenters were pressed separately, with the free run and pressings blended to tank. After 24 hours both tanks of wine were racked independently to 2-4 year- old French barriques for 11 months., during which malolactic fermentation occurred and the wines were racked twice, again independently. Prior to bottling the barrels of both batches were blended and fined, but not filtered.
Technical Analysis
Harvested - March 2005
Bottled - March 2006
AAlcohol - 15.5%
Current Releases
2009 Adamo - Barossa Valley Zinfandel
2007 The Tardy - Langhorne Creek Zinfandel
2007 The Cellar-pod - Adelaide Hills
All Vintages
Adamo - Barossa Shiraz
2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009
The Tardy - Langhorne Creek Zinfandel
2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007
The Cellar-pod - Adelaide Hills Viognier
The Donald - Barossa Zinfandel
Le Grenouille - Adelaide Hills Merlot
2003 - 2004
On the 2005 The Donald...
Winefront - Campbell Mattinson, June 2008 91 points - Screwcap
This has the sweetness and over-the-top ripeness of its Langhorne Creek stablemate - but it's got tannin structure and acid too, which guides the lusciousness of it through your mouth and, at the same time, makes you go 'aaaaahhhh'. It tastes of tar, raisins, blackberry jam and malt - though mostly it simply tastes yum. Sweet, luscious and eminently loveable. Drink: 2008-2011.
Jul / Aug 2005 International Wine Cellar - Josh Reynolds - 90 points
Bright violet. Powerful and expressive nose reveals bright blackberry, boysenberry, licorice and mocha. Impressively vibrant and fresh, with dark berry flavors exhibiting great poise and verve. Finishes crisp, with impressive focus and supple, sweet tannins. A very impressive Australian zinfandel: this is delicious!
The Donald -like any family, there are subtle similarities and differences between each member that show that you both belong, yet are still an individual...for the second Zin in our series you can see the bold traits you expect from a big Barossa red, complemented with the rich spiciness synonymous with zinfandel giving a unique character that is impossible to resist...and to keep it in the family, we've named this Zin the Donald, in recognition of Matt's grandfather - the master of tardiness.