Hoosegg Jade Moon Cabernet Franc 2018
Philip Shaw's long and extraordinary career has seen him running some of the country's largest wineries, pioneering Orange as a serious wine region and finally founding Hoosegg, a tiny high-quality, hands-on venture.There are of course many gaps to fill in.
Philip started working at Penfolds and Wynns Magill at the age of 14 and post-school attended Roseworthy College, graduating as a winemaker in 1969. At the age of 23 he was employed by Lindemans, at the time Australia's largest wine company, to build their massive 200,000 tonne capacity Karadoc winery, the biggest in the country. In 1982 Philip was appointed winemaker for Rosemount and oversaw an increase in production from 20,000 to 6 million cases. When Rosemount was taken over by Southcorp in 2000, Philip became head of production for Southcorp (think Penfolds, Lindemans, Wynns, Rosemount, Seppelts, Coldstream Hills... and more). At this time, Southcorp was producing 23 million cases of wine from 17 wineries across the globe, making it the largest premium wine company in the world. Mind boggling.
During this time, accolades included:
- Twice wining the coveted International Winemaker of the Year at the London International Wine & Spirit Competition (1986 & 2000).
- Awarded 1999 Qantas Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine’s Australian Winemaker of the Year.
- Awarded the 2000 Graham Gregory Trophy for his outstanding contribution to the Australian wine industry.
In 1988/89 whilst still at Rosemount and after considerable searching for what he considered to the best site to make premium wine, Philip planted the Koomooloo vineyard at Orange at an altitude of around 900m. In the initial years Rosemount took fruit from the vineyard, but by 2004 having left Southcorp and moved to Orange, Philip released the first vintage of his own Philip Shaw Wines. In 2015, after sigificant success and growth, Philip handed the reins of Philip Shaw Wines over to his two sons, Damian and Daniel, and started Hoosegg, with HOO being Philip and EGG symbolising a new beginning.
Hoosegg is the distillation of Philip's 60 year career in wine. It's hard to fathom all that experience and knowledge! From overseeing some of the largest winemaking facilities in the world, Philip now literally hand-tends fruit from the best sites in the now 30 year-old Koomooloo vineyard, to make a range of extraordinary wines from his tiny, but state-of-the-art winery.
Hoosegg Jade Moon Cabernet Franc 2018
This is one of the best Australian cab francs I've tried, with none of that weediness you can sometimes get when unripe. The wine is a blend of 89% cabernet franc, 6% merlot and 5% cabernet sauvignon. 20 months in 75% new oak. Think right bank Bordeaux rather than Loire Valley red. 13.2% alcohol and sealed with cork. 1350 bottles produced.
"Deep, red colour, intense fruit, strong blackberry with very fine integrated oak aromas. Strong intense varietal flavours. Showing great complexity and balance of fruit flavours, spicy oak and firm tannins. A beautiful example of Cabernet Franc varietal. At least 25 years of careful cellaring. The 2018 is finer and softer than previous year but similar varietal intensity."
Winemaker Philip Shaw.
Double Gold Global Fine Wine Challenge - 2022.
'Master' Global Cabenet Farnc Masters 2024 *The top wines were awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze medals according to their result, and those expressions that stood out as being outstanding received the ultimate accolade – the title of Cabernet Franc Master.
“Youthful, complex and enticing bouquet, winemaker Philip Shaw has crafted an excellent wine – deep purple core with purple and ruby hues at the rim. Aromas of black berries and olive, violet and plum, a soft sage herb quality, gun-flint and mineral with a powerful backbone of youth, oak and barrel spice. On the palate the core of ripe fruit is contrasted by the texture of tannins in abundance, plenty of acidity and flavours that mirror the bouquet centering on dark berries and sweet oak, barrel spice, roasted nut and gun-flint. A delicious wine with power and charm.”
95 Points. Cam Douglass MS (Master Sommelier)
“Bright, deep red-purple colour, the aromas of blueberry, raspberry and mulberry, with some earthy/slaty/flinty mineral notes. Fruit drives the wine and it's very charming fruit indeed. The wine is medium-full bodied and elegantly formed, with taut, persuasive tannins that are in excellent balance with the fruit. There's a touch of graphite in the aftertaste that compounds the savouriness. A very smart wine, much more than simple fruit.”
94 points. Huon Hooke.
“I am yet to taste a truly convincing cabernet franc from these shores. Yet the intent here is one of a cooler-climatic freshness. As it should be. It comes close. The confluence of tannic ripeness and altitudinal acidity, not quite right. The aromatics, however, à point: crème de cassis, with mocha-scented oak in play, chilli, spearmint and tomato leaf. Long, fibrous of tannin and creamy of oak. Smart.”
93 points, Ned Goodwin, Halliday Wine Companion.
SKU | 1HOOJMCABFR18 |
Brand | Hoosegg |
Shipping Weight | 1.5000kg |
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