Winemaker Notes
This wine is ideally served at room temperature with a variety of hearty dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2009 Dead Letter Office Shiraz has a really lovely and expressive nose with black fruits, plums, vanilla and oak with an undercurrent of dark chocolate, warm blueberries and spices. Rich and full-bodied, it offers loads of sweet fruit held in place with a medium level of grainy tannins, a crisp acid frame and a long finish. Drink it now to 2020+.
Rating: 90+ -
Wine Spectator
Rich, ripe, aromatically expressive and dark, this turns refreshingly pure and vibrant on the palate, with pretty plum, currant and floral flavors, lingering easily. Shows a hint of licorice on the polished finish.
Though Syrah originated in the Rhône Valley of France, Australia is home to the oldest Syrah (called Shiraz here) vines on the planet. Found in Australia’s Barossa Valley, where phylloxera has never threated viticulture, these ancient vines are between 140 to 175 years old!
Having brought fame and merit to the country’s wine scene since the early 1950s, namely via the debut of Penfolds Grange, today Syrah (Shiraz) claims rank as the most widely planted grape in Australia. In fact, the amount of land dedicated to Shiraz in Australia is now almost equivalent to what it is in France. Australian Shiraz has its own personality with flavors and aromas of intense blackberry, fruitcake, menthol, tobacco leaf and umami. Conveniently one can find great Australian Shiraz at a variety of price points but the very best will be dense, gloriously complex and capable of long aging.