Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
The fragrance and poise of the 2012 Factor shiraz are exciting. This is arguably the best they've made with fine, complex spices and tar. Some toasty oak asserts itself but doesn't dominate and there's a tarry, black-fruit element with some graphite. This has richness and balance. Super-concentrated blackberries and sweetly spiced plum-fruit flavors combine with fine tannins. Very dense, super fresh, muscular, lithe, sturdy and assertive. This has all the makings of a modern Barossa classic. Drink in 2020.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium garnet colored, the 2012 The Factor has a nose of baked cherries, blackberry preserves and prunes with spice box and incense nuances. The palate is dense and rich with dried berries and fruit compote flavors accented with baking spices and framed by grainy tannins, finishing long and surprisingly gentle.
-
Wine Spectator
Focused and open-textured, this is brimming with blueberry, currant, licorice and smoke character, framed by fine, crisp tannins and finishing with persistence and expressiveness. Drink now through 2022.
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.