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Fairview Solitude Shiraz 2004

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Fairview
Phone +27 21 863-2450
Fax +27 21 863-2591
eMail info@fairview.co.za
URL www.fairview.co.za
Address P.O. Box 583
Suider Paarl
7624
South Africa

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our wines » Fairview Solitude Shiraz 2004
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technical analysis
Winemaker :  Anthony de Jager
Main Variety :  Shiraz
Alcohol :  14.29  %vol
pH :  3.63
RS :  2.4 g/l
Total Acid :  6.1 g/l
Appellation :  Coastal
characteristics
Type :  Red
WOODED
 
accolades
2004 Vintage
2007 Decanter World Wine Awards – Bronze Medal
2007 International Wine Challenge – Bronze Medal
2007 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – Great Gold Medal
Sante Classic Wine Trophy 2006 - Gold Medal
Veritas 2006 - Silver
John Platter Wine Guide - 5 stars

2003 Vintage
2006 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – Gold Meda
Santé Classic Trophy 2005 - Gold Medal Red Wine
Wine Spectator - 91 points
John Platter Wine Guide - 4½ stars

2002 Vintage
2005 International Wine Challenge - Bronze Medal
2004 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles - Silver Medal
2003 International Wine Challenge - Silver Medal
2003 Concours Mondial Bruxelles - Gold Medal
2002 International Wine Challenge 2002 - Gold Medal
2002 Michelangelo International Wine Awards - Gold Medal
Veritas 2002 - Gold
2002 Paarl Vintners Shiraz Challenge - Top Shiraz
4 ½ stars John Platter Guide 2003
Wine Spectator - 92 points
 
tasting notes
2007 Decanter World Wine Awards - Bronze Medal
2007 International Wine Challenge - Bronze Medal
2007 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles - Great Gold Medal
Sante Classic Wine Trophy 2006 - Gold Medal
Veritas 2006 - Silver
This is a wine with a really smooth full palate. The texture of the soil in the Solitude vineyard contributes a very important role in the mouth feel of this wine.
Since the 2003 vintage, we have reduced the quantity of Solitude Shiraz produced, and increased our focus on premium quality. The handcrafted approach to the wine is yielding excellent results, with rich focus and complexity showing on the wine.
 
ageing potential
This wine will develop over the next decade or longer.
 
blend information
100% Shiraz
 
in the vineyard
In 1699, a certain Mr Dippenauw was granted an enormous farm by his employer, the Dutch East India Company. It’s not certain whether this was a reward for his industry or whether the bosses cast him into the wilderness because he’d married dangerously - a sister of Adam Tas, diarist of the early colonial Cape and political rebel (Tas was imprisoned by Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel). What is known is that the newly-wed couple were so overwhelmed by the farm’s isolation from Cape Town that they named it “Eenzaamheid” (Solitude). Today Eenzaamheid is owned by Christo Briers-Louw, whose family has owned this land since 1775. Christo is a dedicated farmer, who has an intimate knowledge of the soils of Paarl. The gravely, decomposed shale soils of Paarl allow Shiraz to ripen without irrigation, producing wines of great expression and concentration.

In the vineyard:
Planted in 1996, two clones of SH1 and SH21, were grafted on R99 rootstock. The soil type, Swartland, is a deep uniform decomposed shale with excellent water retention and allows these unirrigated vines to easily ripen the crop without stressing, during our usually hot, dry summers. The extended Perold trellis system, planted in a South West - North East row direction on a westerly facing slope is well positioned to ensure maximal cooling from prevailing summer winds. Sufficient aeration also drastically reduces possible vineyard diseases. Straw is packed in every second row, to form a deep mulch. This helps to retain moisture and keep weeds at bay. The mulch also improves soil microbe activity and root development. Strict winter pruning (8 - 10 two-eye bearer per running meter), and summer canopy management (2 shoots per bearer and 3 tip actions) ensure a well balanced crop, that reaches good phenolic ripeness. A final crop thinning at 80% vêraison also ensure an even ripeness. The vineyard is regularly visited during the ripening period and tested by taste, visual and analytical examination to determine exact picking date.
 
about the harvest
Harvest Date: Mid February 2004

2004 was again a hot and dry vintage. The grapes were harvested full ripe at 26.4º Balling.
 
  
 
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other vintages

Fairview Solitude Shiraz 2004 Anthony de Jager Shiraz
Fairview Solitude Shiraz 2003 Anthony de Jager Shiraz
Fairview Solitude Shiraz 2002 Anthony de Jager Shiraz
Fairview Solitude Shiraz 2001 Anthony de Jager Shiraz