Philip Shaw Wines

After 40 years of winemaking, Philip Shaw has fulfilled his greatest personal challenge of crafting wines from his own vineyard.

Philip searched long and hard to find his ideal vineyard site, which he did in Orange New South Wales back in 1988. The Shaw family then spent the next 16 years planting and perfecting, before releasing the Philip Shaw range of wines in 2004.

As Philip himself explains, "I've waited a long time to make sure the vineyard has enough maturity before attempting to make wine from it.

I think great wines should have silk, a softness, a texture – in chardonnay and pinot particularly but to some degree it should be in all wines. The tannins should be elegant and soft.

It’s about finishing a wine off, not refining it, but getting it right. It’s in the making – a marriage between the vineyard and the winemaking. You only have to look at a lot of Burgundian winemakers where there may be 10 to 20 different vignerons in the same vineyard owning three to four rows each and the quality of the wines and differences in styles is just enormous – it’s not only the vineyard, it’s the making, the union.

If you try and do things too quickly it (the wine) can get upset and you don’t know how it’s going to end up bottled, but if you work with it over those couple of months you get to know it intimately and you make choices, guiding it, this is where you find that softness, that silk I’m going for.”

Philip calls each of his wines by a number which is personally significant to him...

Philip Shaw No. 11 Chardonnay - "No.11 is the number of my dream Chardonnay plot. It slopes to the south, away from the sun making it one of the coolest sites in the vineyard - ideal for Chardonnay."

Philip Shaw No. 17 Merlot Cabernet Franc Cabernet - "By adding together the plot numbers (2, 3, 5, and 7) from which the fruit for this wine was originally sourced, you'll arrive at number 17."

Philip Shaw No. 19 Sauvignon Blanc - "This wine is in memory of my late, good friend, Albert Chan, whose birthday was the 19th August. Albert was a New Zealander with a great understanding and love for Sauvignon."

Philip Shaw No. 89 Shiraz - "Numbered for the year in which the Shiraz was planted. Shiraz is my most challenging, yet rewarding variety."

Philip Shaw No. 8 Pinot Noir - "The lucky number - My gambling number, Chinese lucky number, the on-going eternity symbol and a snake in a knot - No. 8 is the gamble!"