One of Coonawarra's most compelling cases for Shiraz, Bowen Estate's meritorious achievements really do begin in the vineyard. Coonwarra is one of the world's most articulate terroirs, Bowen make a point of preserving the native charm of their Shiraz throughout the course of vinification and ageing in a high proportion of quality new oak. The fruit of intensive viticultural management and judicious selection, it is ultimately the grapes themselves, hand picked and sorted off the vine, which dictate the splendour in this cardinal construct of Coonawarra Shiraz.

Bowen hold a very strong belief in an old fashioned hand pruning of vines. Such care improves evenness of budburst, bunch exposure and ripeness, for restricted yields of the most intensely flavoured Cabernet Sauvignon. It is this special quality of fruit which translates into benchmark Coonawarra efforts. Shiraz grapes are harvested, crushed and vinified on skins for a term of several days. A third of the fruit is barrel fermented in new oak each year. Batches are monitored through to completion of malolactic, racked off settled lees solids and treated to an extended maturation in a selection of 225 litres French, American and European oak barriques.