Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Shiraz Loechel is certainly the value play in the lineup, and it’s up with the two flagship releases priced at five times the rate of this beauty. Beautiful notes of blueberries, camphor, bloody meats, smoke tobacco, and spiced bacon all emerge from this medium to full-bodied, layered, seamless Shiraz that has a focused, tight, almost backward vibe on the palate. It’s a beautiful wine, and while it unquestionably delivers loads of pleasure today, it will be better with short term cellaring and keep for 15-20 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From 70-year-old vines on granitic soils in the Eden Valley, the 2016 Loechel Shiraz features bright, floral aromas, hints of crushed stone and a tight, unyielding core of blueberry fruit. It's medium to full-bodied, firm and concentrated, with plenty of aging potential. It's perhaps the most Northern Rhône-ish of these offerings.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Powell & Son Loechel Shiraz takes the Barossa to a new level. TASTING NOTES: This wine satisfies. Its aromas and flavors deftly combine ripe fruit and oak. Pair it with short ribs off of the grill. (Tasted: September 10, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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.”
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.