Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2003 Shiraz Reiver is a 100% Shiraz from the Greenock region of Barossa cropped at 1.2 tons of fruit per acre, and aged 18 months in primarily new French barrels and small foudres. Winemaker Ben Glaetzer has fashioned an opaque purple-colored offering displaying a gorgeous bouquet of crushed rocks, violets, and blueberries that is reminiscent of the prodigious 1990 St.-Emilion, Beausejour-Duffau. It possesses a terrific texture, impressive purity, a long finish, and atypically low alcohol (14%) for such ripeness and intensity.
Range: 95-99
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.