Winemaker Notes
Deep plum with garnet rim. Lifted spectrum of red, blue and dark fruits layered with dark bitter chocolate, fresh French cedar and earth. Rich with raspberries, blue fruits and black berries, the sophisticated palate is infused with spice and chocolate. There is great length and focus, and a wonderful balance between vibrancy, power and elegance.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A carefully-crafted wine that has impressive depth and drive, plenty of concentration and layered, long tannins that hold impressively long through the finish. Dark plums, blackberries and black cherries, chocolate and liquorice all run riot. Give this time, there's plenty in the tank. Drink in 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet/purple, the 2013 Shiraz RSW has tons of blackberry and spiced plum notes with menthol, spice box, cedar, vanilla and mocha hints. The densely packed palate is full and rich, shows good concentration and is structured by firm, grainy tannins and a long finish
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Wine Enthusiast
Full bodied, muscular and intense, this brooding Shiraz is built for the cellar. Smoke and blackberries are crunchy with acid and primary fruit, finishing crisp. Drink 2018–2025.
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Wine & Spirits
A strapping black shiraz with bristly tannins that hold the fruit before it pours out in the end with an explosion of blackberry flavor, this is lively, if impacted as a young wine. A selection of old-vine fruit from Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale and McLaren Flat, this ages in French oak puncheons and barriques, 30 percent new. Give it bottle age for the tannins to relax, or some time in a decanter for a steak.
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.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.