Winemaker Notes
The wine’s voluptuous texture envelops the mouth with soft yet dense tannins and mouth filling viscosity. The flavours linger and the cleansing acidity polishes the palates gorgeous length and depth. Oak maturation is harmonious and well-integrated adding to complexity on release. Amodern version of a Barossa classic that will age for 20+ years.
Enjoy from 2024 -2045. Best decanted and paired with rich winter dishesfrom most cuisines.
Blend: 100% Shiraz
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
A stylish red, with framboise, maraschino cherry and plum notes that are juicy and generous. Offers details of cardamom, vanilla, clove and candied walnut, along with mocha accents that add a creamy touch to the tannins. Lush, showing candied violet elements that linger. Shiraz. Drink now through 2039.
-
Australian Wine Companion
The Factor, a subregional blend of shiraz from across the parishes of the Barossa, is again in rude form after the excellent '21 release. Fruit aromas of blood plum, blackberry and black cherry fruits with hints of clove, kirsch, dark chocolate bullets, cherry ripe, ironstone, blackforest cake, spicy oak and earth. Concentrated and darkly spiced with a flow of black fruits, plenty of spice, fine, sandy tannins and an extended draw on the exit.
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.