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Wineries showcase Virtues

A unique venture by Great Southern wineries to pull together and produce a regional vintage concluded with the bottling of the wine this week.

The Great Southern Wine Producers’ Association bottled its premium 2011 Five Virtues Shiraz at Denmark’s Harewood Estate this Monday.

Association chairman Jan Skrapac said the idea behind Five Virtues was to generate interest and promote the Great Southern, showcasing cool climate shiraz by blending together barrels of the varietal from wineries representing each of the region’s five wine producing sub-regions.

Previous Five Virtues vintages have been sold exclusively to The Wine Society in Sydney, but Mr Skrapac said they were looking to expand the brand into local, domestic and Asian markets this year.

“The whole concept started with the creation of the world’s biggest bottle of wine, this 290-litre vessel, for the first Five Virtues vintage in 2005,” he said.

The 2011 vintage is the third Five Virtues produced with Plantagenet, Alkoomi, Willoughby Park, Harewood Estate, Howard Park, Trevelen Farm and Castle Rock wineries contributing to the blend.

“Samples were supplied from a lot of wineries and only the best ones were selected,” Mr Skrapac said.

“The wine is looking fantastic and has at least a 10-year cellaring potential.”

Only 4200 bottles of the vintage have been produced.