Wine: Final Cut: Shiraz

South Australia

Straddling the centre of the Australian continent, South Australia is the wine industry’s powerhouse State, producing most of the nation’s wine and boasting some of the oldest individual vines in the world. The venerable old vines found in South Australia’s Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills, through their isolation, survived the great phylloxera plagues that wiped out the vines of North America and Europe, and somewhat later, devastated
Australia’s eastern vineyards. Quarantine restrictions were introduced, saving South Australia’s vines from phylloxera, and ensuring the State retained its grape growing status. In addition to being host to some of the world’s oldest vines, the State also has a diversity of regions ranging from the relatively warm temperate climate of the Barossa Valley through to the maritime precincts of the McLaren Vale, Southern Fleurieu, Currency Creek and Langhorne Creek regions on the Fleurieu Peninsula and across the cooler Adelaide Hills region to the hotter Riverland region on the Murray River. The south-eastern part of the State includes the Limestone Coast zone and the “terra rossa” soils overlying limestone which give rise to distinct elegant reds of the Coonawarra region. The “Limestone Coast” zone - which also includes the Padthaway, Wrattonbully and Mount Benson regions - is building its own reputation for wines that are not only influenced by the region’s eponymous limestone but the tempering breezes of the nearby Southern Ocean.

Final Cut

Owned by David Roe and Les Lithgow, Final Cut was established to produce high-quality wines expressive of regional character true to their variety. The brand signifies this quality, as well as exceptional value. David Roe is a former owner of Sandalford Wines, a wine producer in Western Australia with vineyards in Margaret River and Swan Valley. Sandalford was established in 1840 by John Septimus Roe, Western Australia’s first Surveyor-General, and remained in the family until the 1980’s. In partnership with long-time associate Les Lithgow, both Roe and Lithgow also have significant interests in the film industry, a fact reflected in the branding of their wine.
The winemaking team is headed by winemakers Rebecca Willson and Geoff Weaver. Their task is to craft traditional, full-bodied, intensely flavored, mouthfilling wines. In 2001, Rebecca was named in the top five Winestate magazine winemakers of the year and The Wine Society’s Young Winemaker of the Year in the same year. In 2003, she was again a finalist in the Young Winemaker of the Year competition and has been awarded a total of 161 medals in her first six years of winemaking. Former chief winemaker for the Hardy group of companies, Geoff is an award-winning winemaker in his own right as well as one of
Australia’s most respected wine show judges. The winery utilizes traditional open top fermenters, made from stainless steel, and a purpose-built barrel cellar for maturation. A combination of premium French and American oak barriques are used to ensure subtle and complementary oak influences. A new state ofthe-
art laboratory is also part of the winery.

This Shiraz displays a deep rich red color and lifted aromas of violets, plums and mulberries. These characteristics are enhanced by complex notes of spice and white pepper with a reserved background of vanilla oak. Supple, generous, fleshy with excellent weight and mouthfeel, this elegant Shiraz displays ripe fine-grained tannins providing good structure.

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