Winemaker Notes
The palate is sweet and rich with an aged orange peel and honey marmalade middle with candied fruit, citrus/apricot and toffee flavors that flow to a drying finish thanks to the extremely complex and fresh 'rancio', and almost electric, piecing intensity.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale amber color with a nose of hazelnuts, dried figs and dates plus hints of brine and dusty earth, this is very sweet, unctuous and full in the mouth with a great concentration of nutty dried fruit flavors, a wonderful backbone of refreshing acid, and a very long finish.
Sherry is a fortified wine that comes in many styles from dry to sweet. True Sherry can only be made in Andalucía, Spain where the soil and unique seasonal changes give a particular character to its wines. The process of production—not really the grape—determine the type, though certain types are reserved for certain grapes. Palomino is responsible for most dry styles; Pedro Ximénez and Muscat of Alexandria are used for blending or for sweet styles.
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.