Winemaker Notes
Style of Syrah:
This wine represents the jammy style of Syrah in our Wine Discovery Set.
Find more jammy Syrah.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A beautiful expression of shiraz from Barossa with a freshness and linear length to it. Medium to full body, fine and intense. Spice and meat character is all here. Just hint of peanuts.
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Wine Spectator
Plum, licorice and cigar box notes are inviting and plush, with nutmeg and cedar accents. Firms up on the finish, where a chai tea detail crescendos. Drink now through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Woodcutter's Shiraz offers up notes of crushed black plums and black cherries with hints of tar, spice box and licorice. Unashamedly full-bodied, soft and well-balanced, it has a great concentration of ripe black fruit and baking spice flavors, finishing with good persistence.
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.