Winemaker Notes
Number 5 on Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2007!Dense purple red almost black. A powerful nose of ripe plums and succulent blackberries laced with a hint of cedar spice.
Bella's as always shows amazing depth and power whilst maintaining an elegant fruit purity. Matured in all French oak, the majority being seasoned barrels, allowing the fruit to do the talking with only the merest hint of cedar oak to support the ripe plum and mulberry flavors. Finely woven tannins produce a long linear wine forming a race track like structure along the palate. Great length and persistency of flavor.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Rich and complex, this is layered with green olive, mint, mineral and licorice around a plump core of black cherry and dark plum flavors, which linger on the intense and beautifully focused finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 Shiraz "Bella's Garden" was sourced from Barossa Valley. Opaque purple in color, it offers a reticent perfume of pencil lead, blueberry, and blackberry. Supple, ripe, and with all components in harmony, this medium-bodied Shiraz has uplifting acidity, excellent depth, and a lengthy finish. It will evolve for 3-5 years and drink well through 2020.
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Wine Enthusiast
Nicely balanced, with subtle suede, cinnamon, plum and berry aromas and flavors. This is supple just to the point of being a bit creamy in the mouth, with a long, velvety finish.
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.