Paul Osicka Majors Creek Vineyard Shiraz is a Heathcote icon. Always super hard to come by, this years release is one for the ages. Big, bold and beautiful! A perfectly balanced wine that runs seamlessly across the palate. Another winner from this quiet achiever and a great cellaring prospect.
Paul Osicka wines have been the rediscovery of my past year or so. Outstanding older vine site, gentle hand in winemaking, family legacy-making, low key, idiosyncratic in the best possible way. Here’s another soulful expression from the intriguing site. Talking about sites, the website is likely defunct, Osicka family comms is more letter/fax/email than it is online tech, in a very ‘Wendouree’ kind of way.
Shows deep and dark, licked by gum leaf and green herb, smooth and plush in texture. It’s a hedonistic wine but holds its shape, drawn long on emery board tannins and luxurious in its palate staining way. Perfume is rich, flavours are too, balance is all there, however, and a sense of freshness and drinkability is at ease. There’s plenty to chew on here, depth and width, lushness and seriousness. It’s a potent, winter-warming style, but finds an excellent groove.
Hand-picked in 11 parcels, 93% from vines planted in the 50s, some rows picked three times over 3 weeks; open-fermented with different treatments, some whole bunches in some ferments, all 3-4 weeks on skins, matured for 16 months in French hogsheads (25% new). A very distinguished wine, the complex bouquet setting the scene for the medium to full-bodied palate and its suave mix of black fruits, spice, pepper and licorice.
94 points 2011 Paul Osicka Shiraz Extensive shoot thinning, leaf removal and bunch thinning, and hand picking over a 10-day period, trebled picking costs; the wine was open-fermented (14 days) and spent 16 months in French oak (30% new). The result is a most attractive medium-bodied shiraz, with red and black cherry fruit and persistent spice, pepper and tannin nuances reflecting the cool season. James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2014
5 star winery (…) Paul Osicka vineyard was the first new venture in Central and Southern Victoria for over half a century. It keeps a low profile, but produces consistently good shiraz from the 11 ha of estate plantings… James Halliday, www.winecompanion.com.au
2008 Paul Osicka Shiraz 93 points James Halliday
2009 Paul Osicka Shiraz 94 points James Halliday
2010 Paul Osicka Shiraz 95 points James Halliday
2017 Paul Osicka Shiraz 96 points James Halliday
2018 Paul Osicka Shiraz 95 points James Halliday
Paul Osicka Wines is one of the longest established wine producers in the Heathcote Wine Region with the original Shiraz vines planted over 55 years ago. Grown without irrigation on sandy loam soil over quartz and red ironstone gravels. The vines are hand pruned to balance the yield and the grapes are hand picked to achieve optimum fruit quality. These factors combine to produce small intensely flavoured and coloured fruit necessary to make premium wines. The use of synthetic chemicals to manage the vineyard is kept to an absolute minimum to promote better soil and vine health.
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