Winemaker Notes
The fruit for this wine is carefully sourced from six old vineyards in the Barossa Valley floor, including Tanunda, Seppeltsfield, Nuriootpa, Kalimna and Light Pass. Vine age is 100+ years for the oldest parcel and around 20 years for the youngest. Aged in a combination of new and old American and French oak with about 25% being new. This wine benefits from cellaring…if you can wait.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Dark and brooding with fresh blackberry and densely concentrated black fruit aromas. Supple, smooth and ripe on the palate with delicate cedar notes. Fresh acidity pinned by fine grainy tannins on the finish.
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James Suckling
A bold, youthful Barossa shiraz with masses of blackberry, black cherry and wild berry character. Quite rich and spicy on the palate, the full soft tannins keeping this on track at the long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Shiraz is defined by oak at this early stage in its life. I am finding many 2021 wines from this lovely, cool Barossa vintage to be cosseted by oak, and I am left wondering whether the fruit produced in this vintage was slightly lighter-framed and should have been treated slightly differently than usual—i.e., less oak. Anyhow, this gives up notes of black cherries, satsuma plum and salted licorice. It has a beautiful, vibrant color and layers of earthy tannins within.
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.”
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.