Cooper Burns is a winemaking partnership of Mark Cooper and Russell Burns, dedicated to producing tiny amounts of handcrafted, small batch, artisan wines from the Barossa Valley. Their aim is to make wines with soul, individuality and personality that express the qualities of the vineyard, vintage and passion that went in to making the wines. Mark and Russell met during vintage 2003 in California, where, being like-minded individuals, they struck up an immediate friendship. As the days and weeks of a Californian summer and fall went by, it become apparent that Mark and Russell had similar dreams for making their own handcrafted wine. A night of margaritas and tequila in Paso Robles saw the basic framework for Cooper Burns take shape. Details of that night remain hazy, but essentially revolved around low yielding super premium fruit from the Barossa Valley, traditional winemaking methods with minimal intervention and attention to detail, and a belief in what they wanted to do and achieve with the wines. After reaching an accord with their partners, Rachel and Tracy, (lots of begging, pleading, promises and a tantrum or two was required to reach this accord, mind you), it came to pass that Cooper Burns was up and running for vintage 2004.

The fruit for the 2005 Shiraz was sourced from the Kalleske Vineyard in the Koonunga sub region at the northern end of the Barossa Valley. The vineyard soil profile is typically red loam over clay and being at the northern end of the valley, is subject to harsher, drier growing conditions than other parts of the valley. Accordingly, the ‘terroir’ of this vineyard lends itself to producing low yielding, intensely flavored fruit. The fruit was hand picked, destemmed and gently crushed to an open fermenter. Hand pumpovers twice daily ensured maximum color and flavor extraction during fermentation, with the ferment temperature controlled to retain the vibrant fruit character. The wine was gently basket pressed to new and seasoned French and American oak hogsheads, where it matured for about 20 months. The wine was carefully racked several times throughout the maturation process, allowing gravity to clarify the wine. Finally, the wine was bottled, unfiltered and unfined, in December 2006. Only 180 cases of this wine were made.

The color is vibrant red with purple hues. The nose constantly evolves in the glass. Intense and lifted, the nose displays floral/violet characters with blackberry, dark cherry, lots of spice and hints of vanilla crème. The palate is elegant, balanced and has great structure and acidity, keeping the wine tight and focused. Rich fruits of blackberry, plum, dark cherries and dark chocolate flood the palate with wonderful soft, ripe tannins. The wine is wonderfully balanced and has great length and persistence on the palate. Whilst excellent drinking now, can be confidently cellared for 10+ years. Serve with roast beef or a rack of lamb.

Alcohol: 15.3%, pH: 3.61, TA:6.5, R/Sugar: 2.4g/l.