ROCKFORD SPARKLING BLACK SHIRAZ 2021

At Rockford we're committed to keeping the best of the traditional Australian wine trade alive and sharing this with our customers. Sparkling Shiraz is a key-stone of Australia’s wine heritage; Black Shiraz ensures that this distinctive wine style is able to be carefully carried forward for future generations to enjoy.
Each year after vintage we choose specific parcels of Shiraz for our Sparkling Black Shiraz. Following maturation in oak barrels for two years, a portion of this ‘newer’ vintage wine is blended with some of the Rockford Black Shiraz ‘base blend’ wine. It’s a rolling blend that has been 36 years in the making, growing in complexity with every vintage. It’s this base wine that gives our Black Shiraz its consistency and complexity and ensures we remain true to the Rockford style year in, year out.
After blending the wine is bottled and then undergoes a second fermentation. Once this magical transformation from still wine to sparkling wine is complete, Black Shiraz is aged on yeast lees in the same bottle then hand-riddled, disgorged and liqueured with our own fortified Shiraz. Finally, it is carefully packaged by hand by a small and committed group of long-term Rockford employees. Because it’s a blend of many vintages, the date on the bottles refers to the year that Black Shiraz was disgorged. The disgorgement in itself is a miraculous process in which the yeast lees are expelled from the bottle, using the natural pressure created during the secondary fermentation.
We are delighted that our commitment to maintain this special Australian wine style has had such an impact. We are thrilled that Rockford Black Shiraz is the only sparkling wine, white or red, on the highly-regarded Langton’s Classification VII of Australian Wine. However, the best accolade or endorsement we can receive is from our customers and your own stories of the pleasure you have gained by sharing this wine with friends and family over the last thirty-five years. If those fantastic tales are anything to go by, Sparkling Shiraz can look forward to a viable future.