Vintage 2011, An overview. Posted on: 26. Jul. 2011 - 00:11

January and everything is looking healthy and full of promise in the vineyards throughout McLaren Vale and nearby Langhorne Creek. Winter and spring rains were consistently good , with no unexpected weather events causing problems with fruit set. Leading many in the industry to  expect an above average quality vintage, similar to 2010, provided temperatures rose, enabling suitable ripening to occur. Then in late January there were several localised quite heavy falls of rain in Langhorne creek and the Adelaide Hills. This triggered the first noticed incidences of Powdery mildew and the beginnings of some Botrytis. McLaren Vale was happily spared the worst of these events going into February and March, however by this stage disease was starting to make its presence felt in many areas and ideal ripening weather seemed as far away as ever we are fortunate in that the growers with whom we deal were well aware of the potential risks of the growing season and had both canopy managed their vines and instituted an early preventive spray program for their fruit. We harvested Sangiovese on the 23rd and 30th of March and were very pleased with the fine quality of such clean fruit ! Delightfully varietal at a lower Baume than we are used to seeing and with ripe tannins to complete a happy picture. Cabernet from Lopresti vineyards was picked on 31st of March at 14.0 Baume, looking as good as any Cabernet we have seen over the time since our inception in 2005. Certainly this will be a great year for Cabernet Sauvignon in McLaren Vale April 7th saw our Malbec come in, showing great colour and structure. Our 2011 Rose’ from Cabernet and Sangiovese is proceeding well and should be ready to bottle in July To sum up, this was probably the most difficult and testing vintage In the last 15 years. We at Minnow Creek will look forward with anticipation to the release of our red wines over the next 18 months. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making them. Cheers Tony Walker Winemaker

Minnow Creek Wines wins another Award Posted on: 18. Oct. 2009 - 18:05

Minnow Creek Wines is proud to announce that the "BLACK MINNOW" has just won a Bronze Medal at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2009. To order the "BLACK MINNOW" and other wines at special prices please view our order form/price list.

Little Minnow Lands Big Fish at McLAREN VALE Wine Show Posted on: 20. Nov. 2008 - 00:22

Minnow Creek Wines are thrilled to have won the “2008 Commonwealth Bank Australia Trophy” for class 10 (Dry Red Wine) – Varietal Shiraz - recommended retail greater than $25.00 with our 2007 Minnow Creek Shiraz. We are pleased to be able to release a small quantity to our Mail Order Customers. 12 bottles per customer Great Value at $25.00 per bottle See order form

Recognition from Winestate Posted on: 20. Nov. 2008 - 00:21

Minnow Creek Wines achieved an "outstanding result" in 2008 according to Winestate. The results will be featured in the annual edition, which only shows the best wines throughout the year. All the best wines throughout 2008 will be featured. Only a small number of wine producers are awarded a rating during the year. More than 50% of wines submitted are rejected through rigorous judging and less than 20% make it in the annual issue. The Results are as follows:              "Best of Style"                                 Minnow Creek McLaren Vale Shiraz 2006                "Best of New Release"                                 Minnow Creek McLaren Vale Shiraz 2006

Extract from James Halliday Posted on: 19. Nov. 2008 - 23:41

Australian Wine Companion 2009

Vintage 2008 A season of extremes Posted on: 17. Jul. 2008 - 23:55

January this year was one of the coolest for some time and everything was looking good in the blocks from which we source our fruit. Routine inspections revealed well formed bunches of good weight with no overcropping or signs of disease. In short, potentially a great year in the making. As February progressed the flavour profiles in all of our fruit were developing as expected. At this stage in the vintage we are out ‘walking the blocks’ once a week just to keep an eye on things and ensuring all is as it should be. Closer to harvest we will sample more frequently, sometimes up to every third day so that we don’t miss that all important window of perfect ripeness to which we aspire. We picked our first fruit on February 25th (about 2 weeks earlier than is usual) from a block known as Mongrel Hill in the centre of McLaren Vale (if you have had to sample this block , you would understand the name!!). The fruit came in to the winery at 14.6 Baume showing strong dark berry and savoury olives and spice. Our first pick from this block and the resulting wine is impressive. read more