JJ w HAHN 1928 shiraz

This wine is 100% sourced from shiraz planted in 1928 on the Hahn Homestead property, located between Nuriootpa and Tanunda in the Barossa Valley. A genuine old vine planting such as this is quite rare, hence the unique flavours and seal of authenticy on the bottle cap.

The vines were planted by Hermann Hahn and his son Walter, 3^rd and 4^th generations of the Hahn family to farm this property. The vineyard is within a stones throw of the Hahn family house which was built in 1846-1848 and is lived in today by James Hahn and his family, 6^th and 7^th generation descendants. They are the oldest homestead family in the Barossa Valley.

The vines were trellised, and planted 3 metres apart in rows 3.3 metres wide. These rows provided enough width for 2 or 3 horse ploughing teams, and for wagons and carts at harvest time. The headlands were also generous enough to permit turning room for the horse drawn ploughs and carts.

Management practice is minimum tillage. A very small amount of supplementary irrigation is used in the late summer/early autumn ripening season. The objective is to obtain a yield of 2 ½ tonnes per acre on a good year without extreme stress.

The predominant feature of the soil is medium loam over deep red clay over limestone/red clay. This is the perfect soil for drainage and gives the old vines the ability to burrow their roots deep into the earth. The vines can then stress gradually into ripening and gain rich deep colours from the clays.

The grapes from this block were sold to Barossa Valley wineries such as Seppelts, Saltrams, Wolf Blass, until 2001 when the first vintage was made for JJ Hahn.

"Now at 77 years of age, these vines are just moving into top gear. This wine is all about an expression of the vineyard and we find from this block; floral, lifted high tone fruits aromas and flavours. The 1914 planted block is about 40 metres away but shows obvious and strong flavour differences. The 1914 wine shows rich, dense earthy aromas and flavours. About 40% of the wine saw new American oak with a small portion seeing French. The remaining 60% was placed for two years in one and two year old American and French oak. After two years in oak the wine was bottled and purposely kept from the market to develop bottle age." Rolf Binder, winemaker.

"This 2002 reveals the vintage’s cool climate character in its restrained aromas and flavors as well as its European-like elegance and ripe flavor. Dark ruby-colored, with an attractive bouquet of black currants, cherries, berries, dried herbs, earth, and spice box, it is an elegant, finesse-styled, medium-bodied Shiraz to consume over the next 7-8 years."

"Aged in American oak (30% new), the 2004 Shiraz 1928 is a full-throttle, deep, spicy effort revealing notions of black currants, blackberries, asphalt, and smoke. Some gamy, meaty notes along with toasty pain grille scents also emerge from this deep, full-bodied, opulently styled red. It should drink well for a decade."

"The 2005 Shiraz 1928 is opaque purple-colored with an expressive bouquet of cedar, pencil lead, mineral, violets, tar, blueberry, and blackberry. This is followed by a medium-to full-bodied wine with gobs of ripe fruit, spicy black fruit flavors already exhibiting complexity, a harmonious personality, and a lengthy, fruit-filled finish. Drink it over the next 10-12 years."