Winemaker Notes
Crimson and deep purple hues. Aromas of cherry plum, dark chocolate, mulberry and five-spice with savory tones. Full bodied, firm tannins that interplay with a generous, silky, textural mid palate weight. The finish is firm and persistent. Intense, lifted aromatics of dense cherry plum and dark chocolate all come to the fore with an opulent fruit profile of mulberry and five-spice. A silky textured palate of deep red cherry fruits, clove and liquorice all interwoven with hints of sweet spice and cinnamon. The layers and diverse fruit characters continue to evolve in the glass with hints of ironstone, anise, blackberry, and pepper all becoming more persistent in the finish. This silky, fragrant RunRig will certainly reward those with patience.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A great RunRig that has unapologetic richness and ripeness with a very fragrant viognier kick on the nose, which adds perfume to the aromas of blackberries, blood plums and tarry notes. The palate sweeps in big waves of fleshy fruit, carrying an impressive core of spice-wrapped sweet black fruits, The ribbon-like tannins deliver length in a smoothly charming mode.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 RunRig is dark and brooding, with tar and resin, asphalt and tapenade. In the mouth, the fruit is sweet, feathered by vanilla pod and medjool date, mulberry, blood plum and sweet licorice. The length is phenomenally long, and the future will be just as long. The wine is so closed at this stage, and yet it has all the hallmarks required for long aging. 15% alcohol. Rating: 96+
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Wine Enthusiast
An extra year in bottle for this premium, blockbuster wine does it a lot of good. Things feel more more open and relaxed. The nose smells like Christmas pudding, with notes of raisiny red fruit and plums, baking spices, toffee, chocolate and vanillin oak, as well as hints of green-herbal and dusting-polish characters at the rear. Fruit on the palate is silky but tightly lassoed with fine powerful granular tannins and large helpings of high-end oak. If the fruit can hold up as well as the tannins and oak, this wine should cellar until 2034 or longer.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and vibrant, with plenty of oomph to the herb-scented blackberry and plum flavors at the core, offering spicy tobacco, tomato leaf and dark chocolate notes that linger on the finish. Shiraz and Viognier. Drink now through 2028.
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.