Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet colored, the 2006 Ancient Way Vineyard Summer's Vineyard reveals a provocative mélange of kirsch, plum pudding and blackberry tart scents with Chinese five spice, aniseed and wood smoke suggestions. Full-bodied and voluptuously fruited, with a wonderfully velvety texture, the palate is unabashedly seductive, finishing on a long-lingering aniseed note.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Spice and herb driven complexity is the order of the day, with scents of violets lending an exotic note to the aromas. It is mouthfilling and palate coating but wonderfully balanced, picking up hints of black olive and espresso on the lingering finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Smooth and round, this is distinctive for its black olive, licorice and balsamic overtones around a core of dark, brooding blackberry and currant fruit. Lingers intensely.
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.