Winemaker Notes
A much gentler wine than many Barossa Shiraz. A dry and savory fruit profile balanced by texture, excellent persistence and balanced tannin and acid. Medium bodied and ideally partnered with red meat and game dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This intensely flavored Barossa Shiraz features notes of sweaty leather, stewed plums, black olive and coffee beans. It’s full-bodied and creamy in texture, with ample but soft tannins that glide easily over the palate. The concentrated fruit and long, complex finish suggest that it can be consumed now and over the next 10 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The deep crimson-colored 2006 Shiraz Bad Impersonator was aged in French oak, 30% new. It offers up an alluring bouquet of smoke, meat, bacon, spice box, and blueberry followed by a round, layered wine with tons of spicy blue fruits, good concentration, and a lengthy, fruit-filled finish. It will evolve for 2-3 years but can be enjoyed now.
Two Hands is a negociant operation run impeccably by Michael Twelftree. It reflects the best that can be sourced from all over South Australia. The packaging provides some serious design competition to the Dan Philips R Wine portfolio. The Garden Series is Shiraz sourced from a wide range of South Australia vineyards and line-priced at $60.
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Wine Spectator
Smooth and polished, with a pretty mint note adding interest to the blueberry and blackberry flavors, persisting expressively on the long, generous finish. Drink now through 2016. 275 cases made.
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.