Winemaker Notes
Deep Black Purple. Intense aromas of blackcurrent, Stewed plums, Cherry, and chocolate. Full bodied berry palate with a sweet long lasting finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Bold, with dense notes of dark chocolate—covered coffee bean, plum paste, wild blackberry, cigar box and date bread. Expressive and generous. The velvety tannins linger. Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink now through 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 The Ball Buster Proprietary Red offers pronounced plum preserves, blueberry pie and blackberry tart notes with underlying licorice and dark chocolate hints. Medium to full bodied with a solid backbone of ripe tannins and lively acid cutting through the concentrated black fruits flavors, it finishes with persistent pepper, anise and spice box notes.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.