Churchview Estate St Johns Shiraz Viognier, Margaret River

Description

Churchview Estate St Johns Shiraz Viognier is a red wine blend from Margaret River. Like  many of the great wines of the Northern Rhone, this is mainly Shiraz (Syrah in the Rhone) with a little of the white grape variety Viognier added. Crafted with the French style in mind.

Churchview Estate is an award-winning, family-owned wine producer located in the Margaret River wine-growing region of Western Australia. The estate was founded in 1999 by father and son team Spike and Raymond Fokkema and is situated near the locality of Metricup just off the Bussell Highway. Spike had emigrated from The Netherlands in the 1950s and had been a successful businessman prior to purchase. Today  the estate is owned and run by Raymond Fokkema and his sister Sharon Bosveld (who joined the family business over 20 years ago). The winemaker is David Longden. Churchview Estate was awarded with a 5 star winery rating in James Halliday’s 2016 and 2020 classifications.

The estate takes it name from the view of the heritage listed Anglican Church of Saint John the Baptist which can be seen from the estate. The single vineyard estate comprises some 100 hectares with 56 hectares of vines. The site was carefully selected for its maritime climate, ideal and fertile gravelly loam soils, ample clean water and north facing slopes and 16 different grapes varieties are grown. Organic certification was awarded in 2020.

Churchview Estate estate produces several different ranges of wine, the flagship wines are the limited release, handcrafted Bartondale range, which is named after the dairy farm that was originally on the site. There follows the St Johns range, made from more unusual grape varieties, which is named after aforementioned, neighbouring church. There is also the fruit driven Silverleaf range.

The grapes for the Churchview Estate St Johns Shiraz Viognier consists of a blend of hand picked Viognier and “Old block” Shiraz which transferred into a static red fermentation tank. This wine is a co-ferment rather than a blend what this means is that the white Viognier grapes and the red Shiraz grapes are combined together and fermented as one wine. A Rhone yeast isolate is added to the juice and the fruit is left for 24–48 hours for a period of cold maceration. Pump overs are conducted periodically over two weeks, the must is then pressed into a tank for malolactic fermentation (MLF) to occur, whilst the hearts of the wine is barreled for MLF. The wine is then matured in a combination of French oak barriques and hogsheads for 16 months.

Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.