Terlato & Chapoutier Lieu-Dit-Malakoff Shiraz 2019
Suburban Chicago based, family owned, Terlato started as a retail store in 1938 and has grown into one of the world’s leading importers, marketers and producers of luxury beverage brands. Their global portfolio includes more than 85 fine wine and artisanal spirit brands from world-class producers in more than a dozen countries and is the leading fine wine & spirits marketer in the U.S. Some of their well known brands include Chimney Rock, Rutherford Hill and Rochioli in the US and I’ll Poggionne, Feudi di San Gregorio in Italy. Notably, they are the exclusive distributor of ultra-premium Gaia wines in North America and the portfolio also includes Champagne Roederer,Joseph Drouhin and Louis Latour.
Maison Chapoutier, founded in 1808, has vineyards throughout France, primarily the northern and southern Rhône river valleys, as well as in Portugal, Australia and Spain and produces iconic brands with over two hundred labels.
The project is in the Central Highlands region in Western Victoria, Australia, about 198 kilometres west of Melbourne, on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera in what is known as the Grampians wine region.
This label, Lieu dit is a French term referring to a specific part of a vineyard or region recognized for its own topographic or historical specificities, commonly used in Alsace, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley. It is a bit disingenuous for Chapoutier to use it outside of France.
Scattered among the old gold mining towns, 250 wineries benefit from long sunny days and cool nights that produce a cool, spicy Australian shiraz, notable for their complexity and finesse.