Wine: Canonbah Bridge: Drought Reserve Shiraz

New South Wales

New South Wales was the first State in Australia to be colonised by Europeans and subsequently was the first to grow the grapevine (there are no native vitis species in Australia). The State, lying on the continent’s east coast, boasts an incredibly diverse range of climates from coastal, such as the Shoalhaven Coast region lying south of Sydney, to Alpine, across the top of the Great Dividing Range, where hardy growers persist at over 500m above sea level. West of the Great Dividing Range and along the inland flowing Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers are the warm-climate regions of Riverina and Perricoota and the northern portion of the Swan Hill and Murray Darling. One of Australia’s best known wine zones – the Hunter Valley – is in New South Wales.

Canonbah Bridge

Canonbah Bridge is the pioneering vineyard in the Warren/Nyngan district of New South Wales; an area classified as the edge of the Outback. Four generations ago, the McLaughlin family pioneered these harsh outback conditions to produce award winning Merino sheep on their historic property,
Merryanbone. The family runs approximately 10,000 sheep as well as cattle. Much of the herding is still done on horseback, although motorbikes were introduced in the last 15 - 20 years. Shane McLaughlin is the 4th generation of the family to till the soil at Merryanbone. Continuing the family’s pioneering tradition, he introduced viticulture to the Warren district in the 1990’s. Together with head winemaker, John Hordern, Shane is particular about producing wines that fully exemplify the unique terroir of the vineyard. Yields are kept below a third of the industry average and they have adopted organic techniques – which they believe are crucial to growing the best wine possible. Shane and his wife Tessa manage the distribution and marketing of the wine on both the
domestic and international front. The wines have been recognized with a number of medals and awards. Their flagship wine, the Drought Reserve Shiraz, was nominated for the George Mackey trophy and thus recognized as one of the top wines exported from Australia. The Canonbah Bridge Vineyard is surrounded by an 8 foot Kangaroo fence. The vineyard is a unique 80 acre site, on the McLaughlin family’s 30,000 acre sheep station. Situated on what was the bend of
a river 2000 years ago, - the soil is coarse sandy soils rich in alluvial deposits, which is different from the heavy clay soils found throughout the rest of the farm. Careful canopy and moisture management ensures that the sunshine is optimized, whilst there is good canopy protection for the grapes. The ultra low yields of under 2 tonnes / acre, enable the optimization of acid and baume levels. This results in a balanced pH level in the wines. Over half the vineyard is dedicated to Shiraz – which thrives in these semi-desert conditions. Other varietals include Merlot, Grenache, Mourvedre, Verdelho, Semillon, Chardonnay and Tempranillo.
Canonbah Bridge is named after the old township of Canonbah that bordered the McLaughlin’s farm. In the early 1900’s when the first railway was created, the town became a ghost town. All that exists today is the old Canonbah Bridge.The label depicts a Merino ram jumping over the Bridge; symbolizing the family’s leap of faith from wool into wine. With this premium range the McLaughlin family aims to express the culmination of heritage meeting cutting edge wine making and quality low yielded fruit. Extra care is taken to maintain low yielding vines with small berries. This is particularly evident in the reds, which display a fullness of flavour and intensity. Maturation in a combination of French and American oak and the use of Rhone yeasts are further components of the McLaughlins’ aim to express this particular terroir. In drought years, the family makes their limited edition Drought Reserve Shiraz. The small grapes are left to raisin on the vine, in a similar style to an Amarone.

Only produced in Drought years when exceptional conditions occur to produce fruit of the required quality at a yield of
under 1 tonne/acre. The ultra low yields allow the vines to retain the acid level in the berries while they are left on the vine for
an extra week to achieve 20% raisining. This raisining generates heightened sugar levels and extraordinary flavor
concentration, not unlike the style of an Italian Amarone. The wine is matured in new French and American oak (tight grain
and medium to heavy toasting) for 30 months. Vigneron Shane McLaughlin suggests this limited edition wine “Is a great wine
not to share.”

2003 Drought Reserve Shiraz, 89 points - Tanzer IWC (July/Aug 2008)

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