HOOSEGG

Philip Shaw’s HOOSEGG has been 60 years in the making. Since Philip first started working in a number of South Australia’s most famous wineries, the HOOSEGG dream has been formulating.  

After passing over the Philip Shaw Wines business to his sons Philip has focussed on small parcels of select fruit from his Koomooloo vineyard, state-of-the-art winemaking equipment, the best new oak – and all the lessons learned making wine over the past 60 years.

“I wanted time to fulfill my dream – to make small parcels of wine that can stand amongst the finest wines from anywhere,” explained Philip.

“This reflects my philosophy on wine making; select an exceptional site and the right varieties. Marry the vineyard and the winemaking. Every wine should be placed on its own canvas and not replicate others. You should be guiding the direction of the wine, not controlling it, always challenging the achievements.”

Philip has recently extended an invitation to his customers to join his new HOOSWHO. This is a community of like-minded wine lovers who have the opportunity join Philip for private, guided tastings, have access to the pre-release and museum wines, access to HOOSEGG tickets to events during Orange FOOD Week and Wine Festival, and be part of exclusive HOOSEGG wine dinners.

“It’s one thing to be in a position to pursue quality for quality’s sake, but the real reward is to be able to sit at a table and share these wines; to taste, discuss, critic and enjoy them. This is what we see our HOOSWHO community experiencing.”

The launch of the HOOSWHO community coincides with the release of the 2017 vintage HOOSEGG Wines.  “The wines are all made from select blocks of our 30-year-old Koomooloo Vineyard. 

“The 2017 vintage was warm and dry. The spring rains set up the season and good rains in January allowed very good flavour development whilst maintaining natural acid. The wines are elegant, vibrant, varietal, intense and complex. They are quintessentially cool climate wines from Orange.”

Distribution: The HOOSEGG Wines are available directly from the hoosegg.com

HOOSEGG Jade Moon Cabernet Franc 2017 $118
HOOSEGG Mountain Dragon Merlot 2017 $118
HOOSEGG Magic Monkey Shiraz 2017 $118
HOOSEGG Double Happy Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 $118
HOOSEGG Seven Heaven Chardonnay 2017 $118
HOOSEGG Self Made-up Man Red Blend 2017 $58

Download HOOSEGG bottle shots here

HOOSEGG Winemaking 2017

The growing season started with a record wet winter. Spring was great, resulting in a good even bud burst and flowering. A record hot January and early February resulted in an early start for chardonnay harvest in late February. The season’s rain and cool weather in early March combined with excellent dry conditions allowed the red varieties to start the harvest mid-April, resulting in moderate crops and produced excellent quality fruit. 

2017 HOOSEGG Seven Heaven Chardonnay 

Fruit is picked from French clones 76, 95, 96 from Block 8 at Koomooloo; an east facing 31-year-old vineyard. Grapes were handpicked in the morning then chilled overnight and whole bunch pressed (1200L basket press) to tank. The juiced was racked to barrel later the same day. Native yeast started fermentation which occurred around 20C and took seven days to complete. 100% new French barrel for 15months. Racked and then bottled. 

2017 HOOSEGG Jade Moon Cabernet Franc

Fruit was picked from Block 2 at Koomooloo, 28-year-old vines. Once crop thinned (3T per hectare), the fruit was handpicked and chilled overnight. Destemmed into open fermenter. Lightly plunged twice a day until spontaneous fermentation 4 days later, then irrigated with sprinkler twice a day until near completion of fermentation, then plunged for a further 14 days. The fruit was pressed gently only, then transferred to 75% new French oak barrels. Racked once during 18months when removed from barrel and then bottled. 

2017 HOOSEGG Mountain Dragon Merlot 

The fruit is from Block 9 at Koomooloo. The vines are 28-years old. The grapes were handpicked early in the morning, chilled, destemmed and fermented in small open pots (1-2T). 30% of whole bunch was added, the remainder destemmed. Fermentation with native yeasts was allowed to occur. Barrels: 75% new French barriques from a range of coopers.

2017 HOOSEGG Double Happy Cabernet Sauvignon

The fruit is from Block 2 at Koomooloo. The Fruit is handpicked and chilled overnight and then destemmed. 1-2T open fermenters. It is held for about 3-4 days before spontaneous fermentation. Wine is pumped over an irrigator twice a day until fermentation is nearly complete, then plunged regularly for two weeks and then lightly pressed to barrel; held for 18months before going to bottle. 

2017 HOOSEGG Magic Monkey Shiraz

The fruit is from Block 5 at Koomooloo. It was cropped very low at about 3-4T per hectare. It was shoot thinned and twice bunch binned. 30% whole bunch and the balance destemmed but not crushed. The fruit was then transferred to two-tonne open fermenters. The cabernet (5%) was plunged twice daily during fermentation until removed for pressing. Transferred to 67% new barrel, held for 18 months before bottling. 

2017 HOOSEGG Everything is Going According to Plan Chardonnay 

The fruit was picked from Block 11 at Koomooloo. The Block has a southerly aspect. The grapes were handpicked, chilled and pressed the next day. Fermentation with native yeast. Barrels: 25% new French oak from a range of coopers, the balance older.

2017 HOOSEGG Self Made-Up Man 

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Cab Franc. The fruit was picked from a range of blocks at Koomooloo.  20% whole bunch, 80% destemmed open two-tonne fermenters. Both pumped over irrigation and also plunged depending on varietal, left on skins for 18 days and then pressed. Only lighter pressings included.