Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
With a broad swath of red fruit tightened around black pepper spice, this feels cool, saturated with flavor until it lightens a bit in the end. Firm overall, this is ready for lamb chops off the grill.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2008 Thomas Hyland Shiraz gives intense blackberry and mashed blueberry aromas with some smokiness, cloves and dusty earth. Full-bodied with plenty of ripe berry fruit, high acid, medium-firm grainy tannins, it finishes with good persistence. Drinking now it should keep to 2015.
Since 1844, Penfolds has been grounded in experimentation, curiosity and uncompromising quality. Their success has been driven by a lineage of visionary winemakers. It began with Dr. Christopher and Mary Penfold, the pioneers who dreamed big, inventing tonics, brandies, and fortified wines made from grapes and Australian sunshine. It continued with celebrated winemaking legends including Max Schubert, who pushed the development to extraordinary, bold new heights. It is this pioneering spirit and curiosity that still rings true after nearly two centuries, it is what has helped Penfolds become one of the most celebrated winemakers in the world today.
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.