News and Events

26 August 2006

Fox Creek’s Reserve Shiraz wins Wine of the Year

Fox Creek’s Reserve Shiraz 2004 was awarded the Hyatt / Advertiser South Australian Wine of the Year at a gala awards dinner in Adelaide last night. In a clean sweep of the top awards, Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 2004 was named Wine of Year and Best Shiraz by judges and consumers.

The 20th anniversary of this prestigious award saw the Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz from McLaren Vale selected as SA Wine of the Year out of a total of 800 entries. Wine industry judges had the unenviable task of whittling the entries down and selecting winners across 15 classes from crisp, dry whites to fortifieds.

In the only show to do so, the judges final 66 are then appraised by a select panel of consumers – readers of the Adelaide Advertiser’s Food and Wine Section – to reveal the Consumers Choice South Australian Wine of the Year.

Fox Creek’s Winemakers, Chris Dix and Scott Zrna were there to receive the award and Chris said “this is a very important award for Fox Creek and I am delighted to accept it on behalf of the Watts family. Our Reserve wines are only made in select vintages when we have outstanding individual parcels of fruit and the 2004 vintage is one of our best yet.”

Fox Creek’s Reserve Shiraz is celebrating its tenth birthday with the 2004 vintage. Due to strict quality standards and fruit selection, Fox Creek did not make a 2003 Reserve Shiraz which reinforces the fact that this wine is only made in the best years. This McLaren Vale shiraz continues to make its presence felt and is now acknowledged in the Excellent category of Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine.

Fox Creek’s General Manager, Paul Rogers said “this award continues the success of the 2004 Reserve Shiraz which has recently been awarded 93 points in the 2007 James Halliday Wine Companion, a Gold Medal at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards and a top 12 ranking at the 2006 International Shiraz Alliance.”

The dedicated energies of Fox Creek’s two winemakers have been brought to bear on this premier red with rewarding results. Scott and Chris have conducted rigorous oak trials to match wood with individual vineyard blocks to create wines that are finely tuned, rich and flavoursome prior to blending.

A wide range of both American and French oak types, oak seasoning periods, coopers and toast levels have been used to achieve a rich, complex wine that is smooth and full. The oak is supportive whilst not dominating the shiraz fruit or tannin structure.