Wine Reviews

Burnt Acre Shiraz 2002

02 April 2005

I’d like to dedicate this wine review to all the vignerons and winemakers out there. The romantic appeal of growing and making wine as they know doesn’t last long once you endure the backbreaking work involved as well as exposure to the elements of Mother Nature. Imagine then making it through the season and at vintage time having your fruits of labour (literally and metaphorically) threatened by a grassfire through your vineyard. This is exactly what happened to Cliff Stubbs, the owner of Burnt Acre at Marong, west of Bendigo back in 1991. Luckily, he and his grapevines lived to tell the story and he used the incident to name his vineyard! No smoky characters to this wine though. A lovely purple crimson youthful colour.

Real Shiraz here with understated power. Deep concentrated flavours of blackberry and plum. A softer leaner and more savoury style that will age for years yet.

Email Cliff at burntacre1@bigpond.com for a few bottles of the stuff. At around $22, its very good value, so raise your glass and let’s toast all the winemakers and vignerons out there.

Paul Ippolito Talks Wine
E-Newsletter – April 2005