Winemaker Notes
Grapes for "The Gaffer" have been sourced from vineyards from a variety of McLaren Vale's best sites. A tried and tested area for growing full-flavoured Shiraz, McLaren Vale has almost the perfect climate for grape growing: warm summers, low humidity, good winter rain and long autumns to ensure that grapes achieve ripeness, flavor, acid and balance.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Full-bodied and creamy-textured, this is something of an archetypal Australian Shiraz, loaded with berry fruit. Yet there’s also enough tar and coffee complexities to keep you coming back for sip after sip, and a long, mouthwatering finish. Drink now–2015.
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Wine Spectator
Plush, ripe and distinctive for its floral overtones, offering violet and carnation aromatics over a solid core of boysenberry and bright plum flavors, lingering on the sharp-edged finish. Drink now through 2015.
Though Syrah originated in the Rhône Valley of France, Australia is home to the oldest Syrah (called Shiraz here) vines on the planet. Found in Australia’s Barossa Valley, where phylloxera has never threated viticulture, these ancient vines are between 140 to 175 years old!
Having brought fame and merit to the country’s wine scene since the early 1950s, namely via the debut of Penfolds Grange, today Syrah (Shiraz) claims rank as the most widely planted grape in Australia. In fact, the amount of land dedicated to Shiraz in Australia is now almost equivalent to what it is in France. Australian Shiraz has its own personality with flavors and aromas of intense blackberry, fruitcake, menthol, tobacco leaf and umami. Conveniently one can find great Australian Shiraz at a variety of price points but the very best will be dense, gloriously complex and capable of long aging.