Winemaker Notes
Try with lamb shoulder and all the trimmings.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This is named for the small octaves coopered from French and American oak at Yalumba and used for aging half of the lot (the other half ages in used French oak barriques and hogsheads). The fruit is more Eden Valley than Barossa, selected from vines with an average age of 96 years. Those vines thrived in the relatively moderate conditions of 2012, producing fruit with flavors that keep unfolding through the wine in layers of silk. While the small barrels lend this wine a lot of French oak richness, the fruit is more powerful, or maybe it’s the texture and structure that dominates, creating a sense of refinement in the midst of tremendous flavor intensity. It feels cool and generous, not suppressed by weight but energized by bright touches of volatility and spice. This is one of the best vintages of Octavius Kevin Glastonbury has produced.
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James Suckling
A bold, juicy, hearty blackberry and red-fruit nose that also carries a savory thread of slightly dusty oak and a ripe, tarry edge. The palate has almost sanguine notes to it with really dense, deep, compressed tannins and a wealth of blackberry flavors that hold long through the finish. Best from about 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the 2012 The Octavius (Shiraz Old Vine) delivers intense notes of pure black cherries and crushed blackberries with suggestions of baking spices, Sichuan pepper and menthol. Medium-bodied, firm and taut in the mouth, it is still very youthful, with firm yet ripe, rounded tannins and a refreshing finish. While it is delicious right now, it would be a shame to open it at this primary stage. Give it another 4-5 years in cellar and drink it over the next twenty.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Named for the special format of small oak barrel it's aged in, this has soaked up the oak impressively. Hints of vanilla and graham crackers accent mixed berry fruit, while the finish is long and mouthwatering. There's ample concentration, yet the wine never seems heavy. Drinkable now, but why rush things? Drink 2020–2030.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
Subtle and elegant, with polished tannins and an effortlessness to the blackberry, vanilla bean and black licorice details, lingering on the finish, where velvety tannins unfold. Drink now through 2026.
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.”
The Barossa Zone encompasses the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Some of the oldest vines in Australia can be found here.
Barossa Valley of course is the most important and famous wine growing region in all of Australia where 140+ year-old, dry-farmed Shiraz vines still produce inky, purple and dense juice for some of Australia's best wines.
In the cooler, wetter Eden Valley sub-region, the Hill of Grace vineyard is home to famous Shiraz vines from the 1800s but the region produces also some of Australia’s very best and age-worthy Rieslings.