Winemaker Notes
The Descendant vineyard Shiraz expresses tar and black olive, offset wonderfully by the velvety mouth feel with the jasmine and apricot aromatics of Viognier.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aged in used French oak casks for 18 months prior to being bottled unfiltered, the 2001 Descendant is a 1,000 case blend of 92% Shiraz and 8% Viognier cropped at approximately 1.5 tons of fruit per acre. This spectacular Australian red offers an aromatic smorgasbord of honeysuckle intermixed with blackberry and creme de cassis liqueurs, licorice, coffee, and spice. There is fabulous fruit purity, tremendous intensity, and great balance with flavor, power, and elegance all combined into a riveting example of Barossa Valley wine.
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Wine Spectator
Rich, ripe and distinctive, not at all heavy but gloriously expressive, playing out its generous blackberry, cherry and plum fruit on a deftly balanced frame, all of it echoing along with hints of sweet spice and cream on the long finish. Shiraz, with 8 percent Viognier.
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Wine Enthusiast
A junior Run Rig, in more ways than one: The Descendant's grapes come from a single vineyard made from Run Rig cuttings. The wine is aged in two-year-old Run Rig barrels, and, like its big brother, contains a small percentage of Viognier. The Viognier lends floral aromas to the nose; it's big and syrupy in the mouth at first, but smooth, silky tannins step in thereafter. Fruit is a little stewy, but that's the vintage conditions talking.
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.