Winemaker Notes
This wine is a blend of 2 vineyards-the oldest is about 140 years of age, the younger one is about 70 years of age. Notes of black pepper, dried tobacco and flavors of black olive, blackberry bramble with a soft oregano finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Attractive blueberries and raspberries, as well as some herbal notes. The palate has quite a deep core of blueberry flavor and ripe tannins hold smooth at the finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and vibrant, offering an expressive mouthful of dried cherry, apricot and raspberry puree flavors on a bright frame, with plenty of Earl Grey tea, white pepper and cedar details. The tannins provide a muscular background but never get in the way. Mataro, Grenache and Shiraz. Drink now through 2033.
Full of ripe fruit, and robust, earthy goodness, Mourvèdre is actually of Spanish provenance, where it still goes by the name Monastrell or Mataro. It is better associated however, with the Red Blends of the Rhône, namely Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Mourvèdre shines on its own in Bandol and is popular both as a single varietal wine in blends in the New World regions of Australia, California and Washington. Somm Secret—While Mourvèdre has been in California for many years, it didn’t gain momentum until the 1980s when a group of California winemakers inspired by the wines of the Rhône Valley finally began to renew a focus on it.
The Barossa Zone encompasses the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Some of the oldest vines in Australia can be found here.
Barossa Valley of course is the most important and famous wine growing region in all of Australia where 140+ year-old, dry-farmed Shiraz vines still produce inky, purple and dense juice for some of Australia's best wines.
In the cooler, wetter Eden Valley sub-region, the Hill of Grace vineyard is home to famous Shiraz vines from the 1800s but the region produces also some of Australia’s very best and age-worthy Rieslings.