Winemaker Notes
Traditional winemaking practices and seventeen months in French oak barriques will ensure the age worthiness of this third release. Enjoy the 2006 vintage now or cellar it for 10 years to garner additional complexity.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Entity is a 100% Shiraz cuvee exhibiting a bit more restraint than the Plexus. It presents an aromatic array of smoke, pepper, Asian spices, tar, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. On the palate it is full-bodied, smooth-textured, deep, and intensely flavored but not over the top. Its impeccable balance should permit 5-7 years of additional cellaring and it should offer prime drinking from 2014 to 2028. It, too, is a superb value. John Duval was the principal winemaker at Penfolds Grange from 1986 to 2002.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and lively, brimming with blackberry, currant and subtle spices, remaining fresh and brilliant through the long, persuasive finish. The tannins are crisp but well-integrated. Drink now through 2018. 1,000 cases imported.
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.