Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Shiraz
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
An aromatic bottling of Ironheart, this is plump and plummy, with notes of blueberry, earthy, savory spice, violets and chocolate. There's a warmth and ease to this wine that doesn't come from alcohol, overt ripeness or oak. It's succulent and silky, and sits firmly in the medium-bodied spectrum despite the sturdy structure of the tannins.
Cellar Selection -
Australian Wine Companion
Hand picked and fermented in open-tops replete with 30% whole berries, albeit, no bunches; 21 days on skins. Blackcurrant, raspberry, mint, anise and lilac. No aggressive punch downs or pump overs. This is a refined wine boasting a meander of sinewy tannins, like a songline across the palate. It doesn't play any cards not dealt, the inherent freshness derived from organic principles and impeccable fruit quality, glimpsing a southern Rhône-style, despite the variety.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Ironheart Shiraz hails from a warm, dry vintage in McLaren Vale, and the wines, I feel, have been made with care and detail. They're very good, and while the season is still captured in the glass, there's no hint of the heat or the year. This might be due to the resilience of the organic/biodynamic vineyard. Anyway, here the wine is monumental, big, supple and driven by skin tannin, but it's a bit meaty and dense too. There are muscles here, but it's not heavy, you know? It's really engaging and lively, while nailing the McLaren Vale Shiraz brief of exotic spice, dark fruit and fine tannin. This is a pleasure. It matured for only 12 months in one year old French foudre and then spent a further trip around the sun in glass prior to release.
-
Wine Spectator
This is an open and focused red with blackberry, cloves and dried flowers. Pencil shavings, too. Some black cherry. Medium to full body, firm and balanced, fresh and bright. Peppery. Flavorful and savory. Open for this wine already. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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.