Named after Jeff Burch’s father, the Leston Shiraz is 100% Margaret River Shiraz crafted from fruit exclusively selected from the vines planted in 1996 on the Howard Park Leston Vineyard. The Howard Park Leston vines are given extraordinary attention in the vineyard. Canopy management is designed to maximise fruit exposure to the sunlight and yields are kept low to achieve concentration in the grapes. The grapes are harvested according to flavour with little regard for analytical data. At completion of fermentation the Shiraz is pressed off into French oak barriques of which about 60% are new, the balance being 1 year old. The wine is then matured in barrel for approximately 18 months. An attractive lifted violet perfume is the distinctive vineyard character that runs through each vintage of this wine. Although a relatively new addition to the Howard Park family, the Leston Shiraz has already won considerable attention for achieving opulence with strong regional definition. In 2007 the 2004 Howard Park Leston Shiraz was awarded at Gold Medal at the prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles wine competition.
