Graeme's Shiraz Cabernet 2019
The Graeme’s is the foundational wine of Passing Clouds. First made in 1980, our belief is this wine perfectly captures Bendigo as a region as well as speaking to Passing Clouds’ stewardship. It is well known for its longevity, cellaring up to 30 years. However, we prefer to drink it in the region of 10 years old. The Graeme’s is an embodiment of a wine greater than the sum of its parts.
The Axedale vineyard (540mm, 124m), planted in 1998 sits on the banks of the Campaspe is situated between the townships of Bendigo and Heathcote. The Serpentine Vineyard (350mm, 124m) established in 1999, lies next to the Loddon River 42 km north west of the township of Bendigo. Cane pruning and bunch thinning help to deliver high quality.
Both Vineyards sit on sandy clay loam soils, are predominately planted to the Shiraz clone PT23 and use irrigation minimally as a control method. The low rainfall and warm growing season in both vineyards allow for minimal canopy intervention and compatible ripening.
The 2019 vintage was a particularly warm vintage with very little rainfall shown by the narrow harvesting window with both vineyards being machine harvested over two days. This shows in the wines more confected fruit notes. Reminiscent of 2018 and 2016.
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