Winemaker Notes
Deep crimson color. Lifted ripe plums with hints of Christmas cake spice, and subtle gamey notes.
Rich and attractive spicy ripe berries reminiscent of summer pudding, supported by silky tannins that together provide a focused structure, and a powerful yet elegant finish.
Drink now or cellar confidently for 15 - 20 years.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
This does command respect thanks to the fruit coming off 123yo vines and the care with it from that moment right through to the winemaking. It is powerful and divine. Lush with the dark fruit coated with chocolate, pepper and coffee. The palate feels all velvety with the tannins neatly placed, the oak integrated and with a glass in hand, a sense that all's well with the world.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Command Single Vineyard Shiraz spent 30 months in new American and French oak. From a parcel of the estate vineyard in Nuriootpa planted in 1894, it's broad and generous on the full-bodied palate, practically oozing generosity and richness. Plums, blackberries, vanilla and cedar all come together in a sexy whirl of velvety-textured hedonism that may prove too much for some tasters while completely turning others on. It's a very different experience from the Greenock-sourced Western Ridge Shiraz, which I suppose is part of the point.
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James Suckling
From a single parcel of 1894-planted shiraz at the estate vineyard in Nuriootpa, this has a very attractively rich and ripe feel with a tarry overlay, fresh earth and violets, as well as mulberries, redcurrants, red plums and oak spice bubbling through. The palate has the trademark smooth, chocolate and ripe red plums, as well as some darker berry flavors. Good balance here.
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Decanter
A massive wine, with punchy and creamy blueberry preserve, orange marmalade and tobacco, carried by bright acidity.
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Wine Spectator
Blackberry, kirsch and huckleberry flavors are concentrated and velvety, highlighted with herb, spice and cedar notes. Details of cigar box and date bread linger on the long, generous finish. Drink now
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.”
The Barossa Zone encompasses the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Some of the oldest vines in Australia can be found here.
Barossa Valley of course is the most important and famous wine growing region in all of Australia where 140+ year-old, dry-farmed Shiraz vines still produce inky, purple and dense juice for some of Australia's best wines.
In the cooler, wetter Eden Valley sub-region, the Hill of Grace vineyard is home to famous Shiraz vines from the 1800s but the region produces also some of Australia’s very best and age-worthy Rieslings.