Winemaker Notes
Ironheart is the flagship Shiraz from their single vineyard estate in Blewitt Springs at the northern edge of McLaren Vale. The vineyard's northern aspect, higher elevation and sandy ironstone soils produce Shiraz with immense concentration and finesse.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
Fermented with 25% whole bunches; matured in French puncheons for seven months (35% new), then transferred to Austrian and French foudre for 12 months. The sandy ironstone soil is the key driver here, with a lilting fragrance combined with rocky ferrous notes, blackberry, blueberry, tar, tapenade, anise, iodine and a briary herbal complexity. Oak is well integrated, though more time is needed to cohere in general, as this is fashioned to age, and it will do so impressively.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Ironheart Shiraz aromatically speaks of its élevage in that the oak exudes a toasty, spiced malt-biscuit character that is wholly pleasing and enticing yet present. In the mouth, the fruit proves it is more than a match for its vessel; black pudding and pan drippings, blackberry coulis, dark cherries, squid ink and salted licorice cascade across a tannic foundation that is all about cocoa and drinking chocolate. This is both sybaritic and yet a little edgy: the whole-bunch component—25% this year—emphasizes the rachis of tannin in the mouth. The wine undulates and flows, and it is extraordinarily long through the finish. Not only can you taste the wine, you can feel it too; it is chewy and enveloping. I'd hold off from drinking this for some time; it is fresh and ready now, for sure, but the structure and length of flavor tell us that this will have a long and storied future ahead of it.
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Wine Spectator
There’s terrific energy to the ripe, round flavors of blueberry, spiced plum, date and kirsch as they give way to spices, herbs and tobacco.
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.