Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Big, ripe and generous, with vanilla-scented blackberry and blueberry flavors on a thick, velvety frame. Shows muscle, but stays balanced by perfumed notes of violet and lavender, lingering on the finish. Drink now through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The lead aromatic of the Kay Brothers offerings, the 2016 Basket Pressed Shiraz is nevertheless a tasty glass of wine. It's full-bodied and flows with creamy boysenberry fruit across the mid-palate before firming up on the long finish, where it picks up a hint of chocolate.
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.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.