Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The fruit for the 2005 Shiraz came from nearly 100 year old vines and spent 36 months in seasoned French barriques. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is vibrant and floral at this stage with notes of chocolate, creme de cassis, game, mint and anise. The palate is fine and complex, with a good backbone of high acid, medium level of fine-grained tannins and a long harmonious finish. It’s drinking now and should continue to do so until 2020+.
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Wine Enthusiast
If Standish's Relic is the feminine side of Shiraz, this is in a more masculine vein, with slightly coarser tannins and more weight, but still possessing great intensity without any heaviness. Cassis, blueberry and black olive flavors are tinged with hints of asphalt and espresso, leading into a warm, lingering finish. Drink now-2025.
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Wine Spectator
Firm, defined and distinctive, delivering a mouthful of spicy black cherry, blackberry, coffee and tobacco flavors. Complex and refined, but packed with flavor and impressive for its length. Best from 2011 through 2020. 500 cases made.
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.