Torzi Matthews Frost Dodger Shiraz 2004
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Spectator
Wine
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
"Firm and focused, offering a juicy core of blueberry and plum flavors that keep singing against refined tannins, with a kiss of sweet oak and a subliminal level of acidity as the finish sails on and on. Drink now through 2016. 450 cases made."
92 Points
Wine Spectator
February 28, 2007
"Medium red-purple; a complex array of aromas and flavours ranging through sweet plum, blackberry, touches of dark chocolate, and spice; fine-grained tannins; Amarone style."
94 Points
James Halliday
Professional Ratings
- Wine Spectator
Other Vintages
2006-
Spectator
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I am fifth generation Calabrian - Abruzzese stock and grew up on the Adelaide Plains working for the family's market gardens as for Tracy she was born and raised in Sydney’s Newcastle with a long career in hospitality.
In 1996 Tracy and I stumbled across a small, frost-pocketed hollow in the beautiful Mt McKenzie, Eden Valley and fell in love with the area for its remoteness and its diverse thin soils.
The rationale was quite simple: this land would produce low yields of Shiraz fruit which in turn would translate into a full, flavoursome Italian style wine - the style of wine needed to match our Mediterranean Italian food.
Tracy and I had plenty of detractors and lots of unsolicited advice, some good, some ...well some people don't have vision. The vines went in, the frosts came, the yields were low and Frost Dodger was created.
Frost Dodger wines are crafted via non-interventional Italian / European techniques where our heritage appassimento method is used for our Shiraz fruit a method that employs careful hand harvested whole bunches which are then put onto racks which are laid out for drying in the natural mother air on the estate and in turn fermented naturally by the indigenous yeasts from the vineyard.
Though Syrah originated in the Rhône Valley of France, Australia is home to the oldest Syrah (called Shiraz here) vines on the planet. Found in Australia’s Barossa Valley, where phylloxera has never threated viticulture, these ancient vines are between 140 to 175 years old!
Having brought fame and merit to the country’s wine scene since the early 1950s, namely via the debut of Penfolds Grange, today Syrah (Shiraz) claims rank as the most widely planted grape in Australia. In fact, the amount of land dedicated to Shiraz in Australia is now almost equivalent to what it is in France. Australian Shiraz has its own personality with flavors and aromas of intense blackberry, fruitcake, menthol, tobacco leaf and umami. Conveniently one can find great Australian Shiraz at a variety of price points but the very best will be dense, gloriously complex and capable of long aging.