Winemaker Notes
Made using our preferred traditional Kilikanoon winemaking style, and sourced from both our Barossa estate owned vineyards, the Testament displays the opulence and textural style that the Barossa is so renowned for. Intensely varietal, exhibiting chocolate and mocha notes, sweet vanillin and charry oak flavors complex and come so successfully together to provide a rich and rewarding palate experience.
An ageing potential of at least 12 - 15 years with careful cellaring.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Shiraz "Testament," from the Barossa sub-regions of Greenock and Vine Vale, is more deeply colored and glass-coating than the Covenant. It offers up a fragrant perfume of smoke, game, violet, lavender, blueberry, and blackberry. Rounder and richer, it also has more grip and structure, with 6-8 years of aging potential. Drink this powerful Shiraz through 2025.
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.