One of three Shirazes presently made at the Estate this limited volume wine represents a vineyard selection of Shiraz from a specific site that is planted solely on clay rich deep red soils – terra rossa – on the south eastern section of the Estate. These soils are of decomposed Table Mountain Sandstone origin and have a very fine texture. (The vineyard ripens a full month later than our Gravel Hill site. This later ripening is due to the soils greater depth (i.e. cooler soils) and a cooler site. The flavour characteristics of the wine have black fruits, violets and cherries dominant (against the pepper and spicy minerality of the Gravel Hill).
                                                 
Hand picked on March 13th, the bunches were de-stemmed and 20% of the juice was drawn off. The mash was cold soaked for three days. Two specific Rhone sourced yeasts were inoculated with the juice having been divided into two batches. Fermentation took place at 26° Celsius. Maceration was a total of fourteen days. The wine went to barrel where it went through 100% malo. For the first three months in barrel the lees was stirred monthly. The Stork was racked quarterly. It was filtered pre-bottling.

The Stork Shiraz honours the late Ken Mackenzie, pilot, businessman, farmer and benefactor. Stork was Ken’s Second World War nickname (as he was tall with long thin legs and a Spitfire pilot) and Hartenberg Shiraz was his preferred red wine.

Shiraz has been grown successfully at the Estate since the 1960’s when it was originally released under the Montagne label. The Hartenberg name was launched with the 1978 vintage but Shiraz has always been the red variety that has been synonymous with the property over the years. Today there is in excess of fifteen hectares of the variety planted on Hartenberg in ten different vineyard blocks.