C yril Henschke took the extraordinary step in 1952 of citing the source vineyard on a wine label: Mount Edelstone Shiraz.

It was unheard of in Australia at the time, but Henschke realised that this 16ha site in South Australia’s Eden Valley produced Shiraz grapes that stood apart from its neighbours and deserved to be celebrated as a unique entity.

Mount Edelstone Shiraz, which celebrates 70 vintages in 2026, provides an important landmark for Australian wine by identifying site and terroir as a defining feature.

While other famous wines capture a distinctive Australian character through multi-regional or multi-variety blends – such as Penfolds’ Grange, Yalumba’s The Signature, Hardy’s Eileen Hardy and Wendouree’s wines – the action that Cyril Henschke took to highlight a single vineyard introduced a new, rarefied Australian fine wine story.

Within two years, Henschke had issued a second single-vineyard Shiraz – from the 4ha Hill of Grace Vineyard, planted in 1860 – which commanded a higher price because of its extremely limited production.

It declared a powerful statement that linked prestige to place. By the early 1980s, key vineyards that provided integral components to famous brands were being mentioned on the labels of a number of elite Australian wines – including Orlando’s St Hugo (from Coonawarra), Centenary Hill and Steingarten (both from Barossa), and St Hallett’s Old Block Shiraz (also from Barossa).

It placed great value on a league of century-old vineyards and their specific characteristics.

Singing their praises

By the 2010s, more Australian winemakers believed these deserved to be vinified and issued as single-site wines, rather than being labelled as ‘Reserve’ wines – a movement that underlined growing ambition to earn more plaudits on the world stage.

Talent and ideas matched this ambition, signalling the emergence of a ‘grand cru’ status in Australian wine – an important refocusing on specific sites that highlights the continuing maturity of Australian winemaking and wine marketing.

Recent historical tastings reveal the distinct personalities of superior locations – most notably Yangarra’s examination of all 15 vintages of its High Sands Grenache, vindicating the winery’s decision to reserve this extraordinary parcel, which defines the best of elite Australian Grenache.

Plenty of flagbearers are capturing specific aspects of the best old vineyards to produce wines of specific character.

Beyond the 10 sites listed here, Cullen’s 1971-planted Margaret River vineyard stands as a leading light of biodynamic viticulture. Brokenwood’s Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz provides a definitive Hunter Valley wine expression.

And also in Margaret River, the Vasse Felix home vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec produce the exemplary Tom Cullity.

Sites in the spotlight

More winemakers are being inspired to pursue single-site expressions of excellence, and to place renewed focus on historic sites in prime locations.

Toby Bekkers spent five years reviving a Clarendon vineyard (planted between 1842 and 1848) that had been the initial poster-site of South Australian wine, but since the 1970s had become derelict through neglect.

Now Bekkers Wines is producing single-site Clarendon Vineyard Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache of outstanding quality.

Sites are flourishing after careful research to maximise the potential of superior terroir. Shaw & Smith’s Lenswood Vineyard introduced intensive vine planting (about 4,800 vines per hectare) to naturally reduce crop load, resulting in exceptional Chardonnay.

In Western Australia’s Franklin River region, Swinney’s bush-vine Mourvedre is planted alongside Grenache and Shiraz on an ironstone gravel hilltop at the family’s Powderbark vineyard – and winemaker Rob Mann is producing three single-variety wines of extraordinary finesse.

Such celebrated outcomes don’t happen by accident. Meticulous, intelligent viticulture and vine health and soil restoration programs ensure these vines continue to produce extraordinary fruit that sits in idyllic balance – many in better shape now than ever.

The best is probably still ahead of us.

Henschke Mount Edelstone Vineyard

Eden Valley, South Australia

The 16ha Mount Edelstone Vineyard was an anomaly when pastoralist Ronald Angas planted only Shiraz vines on its rocky red loam soils in 1912, rather than follow the Barossa tradition of mixing several varieties.

His neighbour Cyril Henschke recognised the unique characteristics of this east-facing, 400m-high site when he started making wine from these grapes in the 1950s, and purchased the vineyard in 1974.

Now, viticulturist Prue Henschke nurtures the network of 1,300 old vines with biodynamic practices that have dramatically improved fruit quality from its 11 blocks – with Blocks G and H in the lower southeast portion of the vineyard being the winemakers’ favourite parcels.

From 1989, Prue introduced an upright trellis system to allow more even light onto ripening fruit.

‘This had an immediate effect on the wines,’ she says. ‘It amplified colour and brought great clarity and purity to the fruit flavours and subtle aromas. Vineyard attention led to sharper wine definition.’

This ensures great acid retention in the grapes and promotes an earthy savouriness to the palate, evident during Henschke’s February 2026 tasting event, hosted at the historic cellars in Keyneton, Eden Valley to examine key Mount Edelstone vintages between 1952 and 2022.

Highlights included the sprightly, lean 1958, sustained by the Mount Edelstone vineyard’s characteristic gentle tannins; and the recurring terroir hallmarks that showed off the vineyard’s twin personalities, with warmer vintages showing red earth and red spice as prominent features, and cooler vintages revealing lively sage and bay leaf herbal aromas over lush blackberry and black pepper.

Henschke Hill of Grace

Barossa, South Australia

Success for Mount Edelstone Shiraz inspired Cyril Henschke to elevate another single-site wine, this one produced from an even more precious vineyard resource – the small Hill of Grace Vineyard, with its gnarled Shiraz vines from the 1860s.

Planted on original rootstock, these fragile sentinels are among few surviving ancient relics to have avoided the impact of the destructive vine-root louse phylloxera – and they produce fruit of extraordinary intensity and unique character.

Dry-grown on clay-rich alluvial soils overlain by a layer of fine, sandy-silty loam, Shiraz from a 4ha portion of the Hill of Grace vineyard is treated with reverential care, benefiting from careful organic composting and mulching to ensure maximum microbial activity in the soil and optimal vine health.

Each portion of the vineyard is handpicked at different times around the full moon at Easter (significantly later than neighbouring Eden Valley and Barossa vineyards), yielding only about 2.5 tonnes of tiny berries per hectare, compared to 4 tonnes or so at Jim Barry’s Armagh vineyard, one of South Australia’s elite Shiraz sites.

It provides coiled power in a dark, inky wine that unfurls slowly over time in the cellar to scale monumental peaks.

These include the phenomenal 2010 and 2015 vintages, which best capture characteristic Hill of Grace signatures of dried sage, Chinese five spice and black pepper notes atop vibrant blackberry, dark plum and juicy cranberry.

Tolpuddle Vineyard

Coal River Valley, Tasmania

Soon after Tolpuddle Vineyard in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley was planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines in 1988, it was commanding respect as one of Australia’s elite cool-climate sites, yet Michael Hill Smith MW and Martin Shaw saw potential to do a whole lot more when they purchased the vineyard in 2011.

‘It has that special something,’ says Hill Smith, who is also one of the five Co-Chairs at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

‘Tolpuddle has very deliberate focus – but we felt it could be significantly better.’

The revitalisation programme saw a dam installed to help manage frost, ripping of the soil between vine rows to alleviate compaction of the silica-rich, stony ground, and new clones introduced within more intensive vine plantings to increase diversity and complexity of grape flavours and textures.

Through this focused attention to detail, Tolpuddle Chardonnay won immediate acclaim, but careful patience has also seen Pinot Noir flourish, as the influence of clonal diversity from new vines across the site has reached maturity.

‘Pinot Noir is capricious,’ says Shaw. ‘It reacts so sensitively to vintage and yield differences that it took time for Tolpuddle Pinot Noir to show site familiarity, but we have now arrived at a very strong place.’

Distinctive, prominent acidity comes as a consequence of the site’s typically very cold, very dry ripening season – an asset that gives these wines sharp flavour definition and extraordinary longevity.

Yangarra High Sands

McLaren Vale, South Australia

When Yangarra winemaker, the late Peter Fraser, identified as a result of the 2010 vintage that the specific terroir of this site – with Grenache bush vines planted in 1946 on a 1.7ha block of deep, ancient sand at Blewett Springs – produced a parcel of exceptional fruit with unusual delicacy and intensity, he boldly argued that it should be vinified separately and promoted as an elite, single-location Grenache expression.

No one else in Australia at that time had considered elevating Grenache to such a lofty pedestal, but Fraser’s astute observation set in place a movement that has rightly brought a league of superb McLaren Vale Grenache to international attention.

Yangarra High Sands remains the standard bearer for elite Australian Grenache, and a 15-vintage retrospective tasting demonstrated that its fragile beauty captures vintage variation with keen subtlety.

‘I always knew this block was very special. I had something that everyone else wanted, so I gave it my very best attention,’ said Fraser at the tasting.

The site provides fruit of exquisite purity, but minimal-intervention winemaking deserves praise for exercising poise and bringing every component into ideal balance – a talent amplified in more recent vintages, especially the magnificent 2024 High Sands Grenache.

It’s easy to be immediately seduced by its waft of wild herbs framed by fresh plum and wild raspberry, but it’s the lean muscle of a complex mid-palate that marries beauty with power, with its fine-boned frame carrying extraordinary persistence of pure flavours.

Alkina Estate Vineyard

Barossa, South Australia

When Chilean soil expert Dr Pedro Parra examined Alkina vineyard in the Barossa’s Greenock subregion, soon after Argentina’s Alejandro Bulgheroni bought the site in 2015, he confirmed its excellent pedigree – but also dug pits that identified a series of different soil outcrops within the 43ha vineyard.

These ‘polygons’ became the source of tiny fruit parcels that have been vinified separately and delicately in concrete vessels, with no oak influence, to accentuate their different character.

Polygon 1 Shiraz – sourced from a mere six rows of 70-year-old vines planted in granite-flecked schist and iron-rich clay over limestone – shows Barossa Shiraz in a dazzling fresh light, slender and nimble, yet supported by subtle, supple tannins and a lick of savoury minerality that guides a long palate line of rare finesse and purity.

Polygon 1 shows but one facet of Alkina’s studied Shiraz and Grenache output, as there are now 20 polygons defined within the vineyard’s Old Quarter – and more new sections are being identified to produce a suite of exemplary ‘polygon’ wines.

‘These are all significant micro-sites, all with significantly different geologies that introduce vastly different characteristics in the wine,’ explains Parra, ‘and it would be a crime if they were not identified individually and celebrated.’

Bastard Hill Vineyard

Yarra Valley, Victoria

Surrounded by dense temperate rainforest in the remote upper reaches of Victoria’s Yarra Valley, the 13ha Bastard Hill vineyard earned its harsh nickname from the workers who toiled in the especially difficult terrain.

Planted in the 1980s by the region’s leading cool-climate viticulturist, Ray Guerin, this was regarded as one of the great Chardonnay sites in Australia, being a source for Eileen Hardy Chardonnay.

The clearing is flanked by towering eucalyptus trees and giant tree ferns, and scales up from 300m to 400m above sea level.

With vines planted on gradients of up to 32%, riding farm machinery here is fraught with danger. Such difficulty and high labour expenses saw previous owner Accolade lose interest in maintaining such a gnarly site to the highest standards.

When Giant Steps Wine, owned by Jackson Family Wines, purchased the vineyard in August 2022, extensive vineyard restoration work commenced.

Winemaker Melanie Chester didn’t expect the neglected Bastard Hill site to respond immediately to viticultural attention and produce fruit of a standard befitting Giant Steps’ esteemed suite of single-vineyard wines.

But an exceptional 2023 Bastard Hill Chardonnay won immediate accolades, and the quality keeps improving.

A key factor is a rare soil type – rich red basalt that points back to the region’s volcanic activity of 500 million years ago – which produces fruit with an exciting concentration of flavours without sacrificing strident natural acidity.

Jim Barry Wines Florita Vineyard

Clare Valley, South Australia

Racy, citrus-driven Clare Riesling is now a globally recognised style, built on the historical success of the famed Florita Vineyard.

Pioneer wine merchant Leo Buring bought land at Watervale in 1946 and called the site Florita (Spanish for ‘little flower’) because he initially planted Palomino and Pedro Ximénez grapes to make fino-style ‘sherry’.

He then planted Riesling vines in 1962 and his winemaker John Vickery created a benchmark style, winning 50 trophies and 400 gold medals over subsequent decades.

Jim Barry Wines purchased the 32ha Florita site from corporate owner Philip Morris in 1986, but although the Barrys immediately began making superior wines with this stellar resource, they couldn’t use the trademarked Florita name for another 18 years.

‘It was maddening that we couldn’t use the name for so long, because we wanted to shout from the rooftops that we had the most famous Riesling vineyard in Australia,’ says retired managing director Peter Barry.

Jim Barry Wines finally issued its own Florita Riesling in 2004. In this wine, the site’s shallow, loamy soils provide a delicate floral beauty coupled with a rich citrus line, firm acidity promoting sharp, clean flavours with unusual length and persistence.

It boasts the unusual dichotomy of being both pretty and fragile, yet resolute and sturdy – factors that amplify with age.

To highlight this, Jim Barry has been issuing a 10-year-old cellar release of Florita, with the recently reissued 2015 showing gorgeous, developed honeysuckle, toasted cashew and lime marmalade characteristics, without sacrificing the primary citrus zestiness that defines Watervale Riesling.

Grosset Polish Hill River Vineyard

Clare Valley, South Australia

The single-minded pursuit of purity in Riesling expression is Jeffrey Grosset’s winemaking obsession, which led him to plant three different Riesling clones (two German and one rare local variety) on an 8ha vineyard in the stony, austere Polish Hill River region of Clare in 1996.

The site’s 500 million-year-old bedrock of blue slate produced a distinctive type of Riesling wrapped in dark, pensive flavour tones and spiky minerality – far removed from the neighbouring Watervale district’s lively lemon-lime characteristics.

Its austere personality reflects the struggle endured by such close-planted vines on tough soils, with each producing just two bottles of wine per vine.

‘I saw such particular attributes in the fruit from each site that I saw no point blending them together. I wanted people to see them side by side, so I just went ahead and bottled the Rieslings from both sub-regions separately,’ says Grosset.

This started a new, serious conversation about Riesling in Australia, which Grosset escalated as he honed more fine-chiselled flavour profiles after adopting organic viticulture principles, then achieving biodynamic certification in 2019.

Pursuit of this painstaking vineyard-care model has seen Grosset applauded as an early adopter of sustainability practices, but he simply points to the finished wine, and its extraordinary cellaring life, as his raison d’etre.

‘Quality over quantity,’ he says with an earnest stare, ‘is always the answer.’

Brokenwood Oakey Creek Vineyard

Hunter Valley, New South Wales

Semillon from the Hunter Valley carries unique characteristics that relate directly to site.

As Australia’s most northerly fine wine location, within a sub-tropical zone but also influenced by coastal breezes, the Hunter has produced Semillon for almost 200 years.

Its modern-day expressions of this grape variety combine seemingly disparate elements of bright, citrus-driven fruitiness with steely acidity that allows flavours to develop over time in bottle.

Semillon has thrived thanks to being planted in exactly the right locations – and Oakey Creek Vineyard, from which Brokenwood has sourced Semillon grapes since the early 1990s, ranks among the best.

In 2021 Brokenwood moved decisively to purchase the vineyard from the Drayton family, who planted it in 1982 on free-draining but fertile alluvial soils located close to the creek.

This vineyard is a primary source for Brokenwood’s elite ILR Reserve Semillon (first produced from the 1992 vintage, and released after six years of bottle age) – yet incredibly Brokenwood had never owned a Semillon vineyard.

‘We had always relied on local growers, so to take control of such an important vineyard gives us an opportunity to improve and invest in the vineyard’s future,’ explains chief winemaker Stuart Hordern.

He believes the importance of this vineyard will be more vigorously promoted, suggesting ILR will be labelled as a single-source wine, in addition to the Oakey Creek Semillon as a current-vintage expression.

‘It’s unmistakable where this wine comes from – and that’s rare.’

Giaconda Estate Vineyard

Beechworth, Victoria

The emergence of Giaconda, with its distinctive mineral-driven personality, proved pivotal in shaping the understanding that the best Australian Chardonnay should be defined by site rather than style.

When winemaker Rick Kinzbrunner left Brown Brothers Wines in 1981, he chose to plant his own vineyard on a tiny outcrop of 450 million-year-old granitic loam over clay and decomposed gravel near Beechworth in northern Victoria’s elevated sub-alpine region.

He had a specific goal – to produce rich but balanced Chardonnay in a powerful Burgundian style – but he needed to locate the right geological site. He found exactly what he wanted.

Chardonnay is planted on a relatively cool south-facing slope at more than 400m, providing a slow ripening period, enhanced flavour complexity and elevated natural acid levels.

It provides Giaconda Chardonnay with a robust frame, yet also unique poise and dignity.

Kinzbrunner remains a staunch advocate for a low-intervention winemaking style – pressing the grapes in a basket press, fermenting the must in oak, using no cultured yeasts, and not fining or filtering before bottling.

He believes this ensures the most accurate and authentic representation of his organically managed vineyard.

This supports a confident wine style that hasn’t changed with fashion, showing its personality with pride.

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History fills your eyes at Seppeltsfield. Barrels storing 147 continuous vintages of Seppeltsfield Para tawny fill the Centenary Cellar. It’s a collection that’s unrivalled in the world of wine, all housed under one old tin roof in the Barossa, Australia.

History fills your nose, too. An incredibly rich melange of heady aromas permeates the cellar, leaching slowly from the oak barrels as an estimated 3% of their contents evaporate into the atmosphere each year.

But history’s most delicious secrets are revealed once you taste the unctuous, concentrated nectar that remains within these old casks. The wines show impossible layers of complexity, compressed within interlocking and sometimes contradictory sweet and tart flavours that unfurl and adhere to your palate.

They are truly unique.

Tasting a legacy

To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Seppelt family establishing Seppeltsfield in the western Barossa ranges, Decanter was invited with selected media and winemakers to taste all of the Para Centenary tawnies – a continuous line of 48 wines, stretching from 1878 to this year’s new release, the 1926 vintage.

It’s a remarkable legacy handed down by Oscar ‘Benno’ Seppelt, who had the foresight to lay down a single 500-litre puncheon of his finest fortified from the 1878 vintage, with instructions that it not be issued for 100 years.

This gesture marked the launch of the magnificent Seppeltsfield bluestone cellar in 1878, a sturdy three-level monument designed and built in 1866 by Benno’s father, Joseph Seppelt, who had brought the family from Silesia in 1849 and established the vineyards in 1851.

Vintage snapshots

Highlights within the historic tawny collection are extraordinary – none more dazzling than the inaugural 1878 Para. This is the rarest of vinous marvels, retaining freshness and vitality but with extraordinary layered complexity in subtle flavours and bewitching nuances.

Also sitting within the top tier of Para Centenary examples is the new release – 1926 Para – showing such vibrancy and intensity with its high, sweet perfume yet deepest baritone notes in the flavour profile.

Rather than provide a narrative about an evolution of a style, the historical tasting highlighted significant outliers – such as the impossibly thick and viscous 1918 Para as almost a parody of the super-concentrated style, or the 1907 Para with especially sharp acidity, and the outrageously dense 1894 Para.

It proved that ancient fortified wines do not settle into a homogenised sameness, but instead show distinctive historical vintage snapshots.

Old vines & historic homestead

History is writ large at Seppeltsfield. It speaks through the estate’s original buildings – from the three-bedroom Seppelt family homestead around which the winery was constructed, to the gravity-fed cellar constructed in 1888.

This was decommissioned in the 1980s but reinstated for winemaking from the 2010 vintage.

It is also evident in the vineyards – especially the Grenache bush vines. First planted in 1855, these were replanted in 1958 as contoured rows that hug the western side of Seppeltsfield estate.

They form the backbone of Seppeltsfield fortified wine production, along with old Shiraz and Mourvèdre vines, although precise percentages of each variety in Para tawny was not recorded until the 1980s.

The creation of Seppeltsfield Para in 1878 is also tied to the historical foundation of Australian wine, which thrived on the success of fortified wine production from the colony’s earliest years.

When Joseph Seppelt arrived in the Barossa, he planned to continue farming tobacco, which had made him prosperous in Silesia, but instead he found growing grapes more favourable and soon set about ambitious expansion that made Seppeltsfield a key Barossa producer.

Legacy of success

Seppeltsfield Para was produced as a statement of the family’s success, a gesture continued on an annual basis through successive winemakers – and eventually different owners.

The Seppelt family sold their shares in 1984 and the winery passed through several corporate ownerships until the Randall Wine Group took control of the estate and its cellars in 2009.

Para Centenary tawny is still nurtured by many hands. Three Seppeltsfield winemakers were present at the tasting – including original family descendent Charlie Seppelt – yet modestly play down their role.

‘These are not my wines,’ says James Godfrey, who joined Seppeltsfield in 1978 and became chief fortified winemaker until Foster’s Group sold Seppeltsfield in 2007. ‘I was fortunate enough to watch them develop and protect them – and for that, I feel enormously privileged.’

For Godfrey, a key to the consistency of Para tawny quality is the spirit chosen to fortify the wine – a grape spirit produced from Seppeltsfield’s own still from 1878 to 1978, when Godfrey closed down its production.

He then oversaw the selection of a complementary spirit from Barossa distillery Tarac, which continues to provide the same spirit to Seppeltsfield.

Preserving the past

The need for consistency and honouring traditional methods is not lost on Seppeltsfield chief winemaker Fiona Donald.

‘We are only custodians.’ she says. ‘Every vintage tells its own significant story, and it’s our duty to ensure that this is preserved – and that the historic Para Centennial Collection will remain relevant to fine wine collectors of the future.’

Most Para Centenary tawnies comprise a single puncheon, and many now contain only about 150 litres of highly concentrated wine.

Donald examines their condition during annual inventories, and decants some into 300-litre hogshead casks to help preserve their freshness.

However, this brings its own set of challenges, with key older vintages at such tiny volumes they can no longer be preserved safely in large-format oak barrels.

Several of the most popular old releases – some down to 40 litres or less, including the Para vintages from 1885, 1884, 1881, 1880, 1879 and 1878 – are now stored in glass air-tight vessels, which has fundamentally changed the wines.

While they still show remarkable agility and focused clarity, much of the dense viscosity and deepest flavour layers have been removed with the complex molecules that drop and settle in a dark sediment layer at the bottom of each barrel.

The absence of continued interaction with oxygen from the oak barrel also affects colour and texture.

‘Tawnies are aerobic beasts, and if they don’t interact with oxygen, they change,’ explains Godfrey.

Fortifying the future

Examining these glass-stored wines raised important discussion points for the Seppeltsfield winemaking team about how best to preserve Para wines beyond 100 years.

One thought is to contain the remaining volumes in small oak casks and store them in a temperature-controlled space, which would prevent further heat evaporation but not remove complex flavour compounds from the solution.

No decision has yet been made.

The previous complete comparative tasting of Para was led by Godfrey in 2003, to mark the 25th anniversary of the first Para Centenary release.

The recent tasting went further, also providing a rare view of future Para centenary releases in progress, showing decade-by-decade development from the 1926 vintage through to the juvenile 2016 vintage.

It reinforced Benno Seppelt’s genius decision to hold this wine in barrel for 100 years, to achieve perfect balance between concentration, complexity and vitality that cannot be contrived in younger fortified wines.

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Barossa Shiraz 2023 vintage rating: 4/5

Despite challenges, growers who paid careful attention to their vines enjoyed superb grapes from the 2023 harvest. After steady winter rains, spring was one of the wettest on record, though timely spraying averted threats of downy mildew.

There were no sustained summer heatwaves; cooler weather and large vine canopies saw veraison occur during February, delaying the Barossa’s 2023 vintage by up to four weeks. Shiraz usually harvested in mid-February was picked from mid-March.

However, slow ripening produced complex flavours in grapes, with red wines showing intense, rich and balanced flavours and colours. While crop volumes varied across the region, the total Barossa yield (red and white) was slightly above average at 73,160 tonnes.

Scroll down for David’s top-scoring wines from the 2023 Barossa Shiraz releases

Capturing heightened elegance in Barossa Shiraz comes with confidence – and a cooler, longer vintage in 2023 has certainly helped a raft of winemakers embrace this evolving style.

This vintage presented challenges, especially to obtain optimal ripeness at the highest elevations. It required great attention in the vineyard, especially to escape fungal disease due to cooler temperatures.

But smart vignerons – led by Alkina, Michael Hall, The Cutting and Head Wines – took great care to place specific attention on individual grape parcels, applying multiple winemaking techniques to achieve superior results.

Shifting style

Decanter published its first Barossa Shiraz Vintage Report for the 2022 vintage and noted that a shift in winemaking style was gaining a foothold.

The best wines captured a leanness and nimbleness that defied a lingering perception of heavyweight Barossa Shiraz with high alcohol and super-ripe fruit.

This change in direction has now gained traction.

The 2023 vintage provided the right environment for Barossa winemakers to explore these ideas further. From the 89 submissions for this vintage report, a broad league of wines shows subtle and complex marriages of flavour and texture.

With less insistence on shouting, subtleties were allowed to speak with increased clarity.

This is a great achievement by modern Barossa producers. More detailed understanding of terroir, greater care for the fragility of ancient vines and increased responsiveness to climatic changes have translated to expressive wines that clearly reflect their environment.

Terroir expression

‘We are seeing terroir inform the winemaking required to make the best wines,’ says Alex Head, winemaker at Head Wines, who sources fruit from 15 privately owned Barossa vineyards. ‘Hard work in the winery has resulted in wines of really interesting texture from the 2023 vintage.’

Once, the Barossa’s quandary was whether to maintain tradition by making hefty Shiraz of imposing depth and power, or to embrace more slimline contemporary tastes.

It’s pleasing that the current direction respects old-vine intensity while also championing understated elegance and refined beauty.

Shiraz from the 2023 vintage shows impressive consistency from the top tier of producers. Expect pretty perfumes as a consequence of cooler temperatures, along with complex texture aided by supple, lithe tannins.

Many of these wines seem slightly shy now, but the best have an unforced elegance that won’t fade with time.

Names to know

Rising high above the ordinary are a suite of meticulous wine producers, led by Alkina, Michael Hall, John Duval and Alex Head, along with boutique producers including Belinda van Eyssen from The Cutting.

Impressive new faces are producing wines of the highest order. They include Jack Scholz, taking over the reins at The Willows Vineyard. Young winemaker Samantha Chandra is focusing on distinctive single vineyard expressions with her solo project Setiono.

While Nick Radford is making notable advances at Mirus Vineyards in the Marananga subregion.

With a nod to classic style, Henschke notably demonstrates the craft of careful blending with Henry’s Seven, a wine that achieves a high degree of sophistication.

Shiraz from the Barossa Valley floor is co-fermented with Viognier pressings, and just the right addition of Grenache and Mataro, to achieve ideal balance.

‘Any wines that are focused on expressing region, place and site are showing especially well from the 2023 vintage,’ concludes Alkina winemaker Amelia Nolan. ‘And for that reason, we regard 2023 as a fabulous year.’

Barossa: The facts

Founded: 1842

Vineyards: 14,236ha under vine, with 11,847ha in the Barossa Valley (elevation 112-597m) and 2,389ha in the adjacent Eden Valley (elevation 217-637m). This represents 9.7% of Australia’s total wine production.

Climate: hot and dry. Barossa average rainfall 160mm; Eden Valley average rainfall 280mm. Mean temperatures during the key January growing period are 21.4℃ in Barossa and 19.4℃ in Eden Valley.

Vine age: Barossa has the oldest producing Shiraz vines in the world, planted in 1843. 283ha of vines are more than 70 years of age; 82ha are more than 125 years old.

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Given the glamour that surrounds the world of fine wine, it can be all too easy to forget that wine is an agricultural product, and that, as such, it’s subject to the vagaries of nature.

Each year is a gamble for wine producers, with a spread bet that the combination of weather, yield and disease pressure will pay out in their favour.

Stephen and Prue Henschke, fifth-generation producers of some of South Australia’s most iconic wines, are only too familiar with the annual roll of the dice.

Scroll down for the Henschke 2021 single-vineyard releases

Production volumes of all of their single-vineyard Shirazes were way down on average – and in some cases non-existent – in the challenging 2019 vintage.

This was the result of a combination of spring frosts and a hot, dry summer, as well as bushfires in the Adelaide Hills.

Worse was to come in 2020, a vintage described by Stephen as, ‘an absolute disaster’.

He says: ‘We literally had vines with no grapes on them at all – we lost a whole vintage.’

A ‘fairy-tale vintage’

As a result the following year, 2021, which he describes as ‘a beautiful, fairy-tale vintage’, came as a huge relief. Volumes were not only back up to normal, but the quality of the wines is immediately apparent to all who taste them.

Stephen believes that the wines stand comparison with the stellar vintages of 1986, 2002, 2005 and 2015 – although, as ever, each vintage has its own particular character.

‘The unique thing about 2021,’ says Stephen, ‘is that it was one of the coolest growing seasons we’ve seen in 19 years. We only had three days over 30°C. In terms of vintage comparisons, it comes closest to 2002 and 2005, both of which were wonderful years.’

The weather conditions in 2021 almost seemed to be trying to make amends for the tribulations imposed on the Henschkes over the course of the previous couple of years. There was sufficient rainfall early in the growing season to nourish the vines, then just enough water stress after veraison to help create balance and concentration in the fruit.

Finally, the growing season culminated in an Indian summer, which allowed the wines to reach near-perfect levels of colour, aromatic richness, depth of flavour and balance.

Fine-tuning in the winery

As far as the Henschkes are concerned, great wines are not made in the winery, where very little has changed over the course of generations. There has, of course, been the odd tweak here and there.

For example, instead of crushing the fruit on arrival at the winery, the bunches are now passed through a de-stemmer and optical sorter. The family also employs a more efficient cooling system than was once the case.

The use of new oak has also decreased over time from around 25% to a figure closer to 5%. Stephen explains: ‘We want the vineyard to be the hero, and not the oak.’

In 2002 screwcaps were introduced as the closure of choice for most of the range.

Vineyard goals

Instead, the Henschkes believe that true greatness comes from a near-infinite capacity for taking pains in the vineyard. As the family’s viticulturist, this is Prue’s fiefdom.

Her work is largely about managing exposure, harnessing sunlight to ripen the grapes and not to burn them.

‘The idea,’ says Prue, ‘is to draw on the cooler light in the morning and then have a very shaded canopy facing the hot afternoon sun.’

She points out that they’re helped in their goal of capturing the essence of each vineyard by the age of their vines. The emblematic Hill of Grace Shiraz vineyard averages out at 85 years old, a relatively sprightly age when you consider that the oldest vines that go into the cuvee were planted in 1860.

‘The interesting thing with the old vines,’ she says, ‘is that they seem to be designed in such a way as to set the fruit up to have beautiful balance.

In the past four years we’ve been picking grapes with high acidities and low pH levels, so the wines almost make themselves.’

Vine age and complexity

The difference between the vines that go into Hill of Grace, and the younger vines from the same vineyard, planted in 1989 – and which are used to create the Hill of Roses Shiraz – is clear, according to Stephen.

‘The palate length [of Hill of Roses] is still building, as is the complexity compared to the old-vine wines,’ he says, adding: ‘The balance is coming into better focus.’ He believes it takes about 25 years for a vineyard to start showing some real complexity.

The truth is there’s no lack of complexity in any of the Henschkes’ single-vineyard wines; just the restrained elegance and precision that speaks volumes about Prue and Stephen’s intimate knowledge of their vineyards.

It also speaks of the confidence they have in the ability of those vineyards to reveal themselves in the glass.

Winemaking may always be a bit of a gamble, but it’s clear that the Henschkes hold many – if not all – of the cards.

First taste: Henschke new releases

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The world’s longest continuing library of vintage fortified wine has issued its latest chapter, with Australia’s Seppeltsfield launching a 1925 Para Vintage Tawny.

Following a tradition established by pioneer Barossa Valley winemaker Oscar ‘Benno’ Seppelt, who first laid down a barrel of vintage fortified in 1878 with instructions not to issue it for 100 years, the 1925 Para Vintage Tawny is released on 20 February 2025.

The 48th consecutive annual release of Seppeltsfield’s 100-year-old vintage tawny coincides with the anniversary of the Seppelt family taking residence in their western Barossa homestead at Seppeltsfield in 1851, having migrated from Silesia earlier that year.

Seppeltsfield remains the home of the Seppeltsfield Centennial Collection – the world’s only unbroken lineage of single vintage tawny. Each wine has spent a minimum of 100 years in oak barrels, within the Centennial Cellar at Seppeltsfield,

before being released to the market.

Historic wines

The first Para Tawny laid down by Benno Seppelt in 1878 comprised a single 500-litre puncheon. In the late 1970s, Para Tawny stocks were increased to four puncheons for each vintage. Since Warren Randal took over as proprietor of Seppeltsfield in 2009, eight puncheons of tawny from each vintage are reserved.

However, the 1925 vintage comprised only a single puncheon, and about 150 litres of this wine remains, due to around 3% volume being lost each year to evaporation.

Seppeltsfield chief winemaker, Fiona Donald, examines many of these historic wines during annual inventories to check their condition. She often decants them into smaller 300-litre hogshead casks to help preserve their freshness. It was during this process 18 months ago that she was struck by the quality and arresting personality of the 1925 vintage.

The 1925 vintage

‘It’s a wow wine,’ she said. ‘When I first started working with Para Vintage Tawny 16 years ago, I assumed that all wines of such profound age would look the same – and this is completely incorrect. The personality of each wine is framed by each different vintage, which is very accurately captured in this incredible fortified time capsule.’

The 1925 vintage is powerfully defined, with an assertive, confident personality: opening with bold notes of coffee and molasses, drizzled with a film of wild honey. The palate entry is electric – surprisingly sharp and alert for a 100-year-old wine, filling the palate with technicolour complexity that is uplifted and propelled by an undercurrent of acidity. Its richness is measured and tempered by clean, sweet notes – but it’s the deep strata of layers that intrigue.

An expansive mid-palate has dense fruitcake intensity, showing brandied raisin character over a bed of dark nutty notes: walnut, roasted hazelnut and scorched almond. A bite of Seville orange peel adds tension, introducing a hint of tight bitterness at counterpoint to the generosity of the wine’s ample, sweet belly and lively pinch of nutmeg.

The seamless meld of luscious Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre components (percentages of each grape variety used in the blend were not recorded at vintage) have darkened with age, showing a rich mahogany tone in the glass, framed by a vibrant amber rim.

Vintage variation

This new release stands in stark difference to recent Para Vintage Tawny releases. The 1922 vintage shows darker, savoury flavour tones with sharp green hazelnut liqueur framed by the bite of dried wild herbs. While the 1923 vintage had ample fruitiness that mirrored the comforting generosity of luscious Christmas pudding.

Such striking contrasts confirm Donald’s belief that vintage variation plays a significant role in each 100-year-old fortified wine.

‘Every vintage tells its own significant story, and it’s our duty to ensure that this is preserved – and that the historic Centennial Collection will remain relevant to fine wine collectors of the future,’ she explained.

The scarcity of Para Vintage Tawny amplifies the value of the treasure contained within each 100ml glass flask, which looks more like an exotic perfume vessel than a wine bottle. Each flask is hand-filled to order, then numbered and authenticated for collectors, bearing the signatures of Seppeltsfield proprietor and MD Randall and friend of the winery Bill Seppelt, the great-great-grandson of winery founders Joseph and Johanna Seppelt.

The wine is packaged in a latched black timber box that’s lined with black velvet and has information printed inside the lid that includes its bottling date. Its specific bottle number is attached to a neck tag on the bottle, while a QR code provides a link to tasting notes.

Seppeltsfield 1925 100-Year-Old Para Vintage Tawny is also available online from seppeltsfield.com.au for AU$1,800, with shipping possible worldwide. In the US it is available via Legend Australian Wine Imports ($1,800).

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Beth Pearce MW, Sara Muirhead MW and Ben Chan tasted 51 wines, with 7 Outstanding and 25 Highly Recommended

Australian Grenache: Panel tasting scores

51 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 7

Highly recommended 25

Recommended 15

Commended 4

Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were invited to submit their 100% Grenache wines from the 2020, 2021 and 2022 vintages

With the original plantings taking place in 1838, Grenache was one of the first varieties to take root in Australia. Indeed, the country boasts the world’s oldest productive Grenache vines, planted in 1848, and its wealth of old-vine material has helped fuel the rise of single-varietal Grenache wines of increasingly notable quality.

‘There’s now a spectrum of Grenache that’s different to what people would have expected, even five or so years ago,’ said lead judge Beth Pearce MW. ‘There are the old-school, rich, opulent styles and the new-wave Pinot-like styles,’ explained Ben Chan.

‘The best wines have that sort of concentration that comes from old vines – all that Pinot-like perfume, but with a bit more muscle,’ Pearce added.

Scroll down to see notes and scores of the top-scoring wines from our Australian Grenache tasting

A variety to seek out

Identifying which style is in your bottle isn’t easy. ‘It’s very hard to know what you’re going to get,’ noted Pearce. This is one category where it’s important to identify your favourite producers and wines. But you can certainly expect quality from Aussie Grenache.

An impressive 63% of the wines in the tasting were ranked Highly recommended or above. ‘There was a high quality level,’ noted Sara Muirhead MW. ‘But there were quite a lot of wines that were quite ambitiously priced and the quality didn’t always match up.’

Nonetheless, the panel noted the innovation of some of the winemakers working with Grenache. ‘In terms of the sort of style producers were going after, it’s interesting to see how specific some were about how they age the wines,’ said Pearce.

Which regions should readers look out for? McLaren Vale and Barossa dominated, with the former claiming the lion’s share of the Outstanding bottles.

Within McLaren Vale, one name should definitely be on your radar: ‘Blewitt Springs stood out, as I expected it might, because there are some great vineyards there – those sandy soils are well known for top-quality Grenache,’ said Pearce.

Although it accounts for just 1.1% of Australia’s total vineyard area, Grenache punches well above its weight. Seek it out.

See all the wines from the Australian Grenache tasting

What to eat with Australian Grenache, by Fiona Beckett

The assumption that Aussie Grenache is all about high-alcohol blockbusters is out of date, as this tasting shows. Nevertheless, that full-bodied style is still widely available and popular.

It particularly suits substantial wintry food – dishes such as slow-braised ox cheek and other casseroles, and hearty steak pies – but can also be a great pairing for an American-style barbecue with its smoked meats.

And because of its relatively soft tannins, this style would work well with a cheeseboard, especially with stronger hard cheeses and blues. But the fresher, younger styles are more like Pinot Noir when it comes to pairing – often made in a quaffable style better suited to charcuterie or simply grilled meats, or, like Pinot, to duck.

Those styles would also be good with root vegetable-based dishes, including roast carrots, parsnip and beetroot, and also with roast pumpkin or squash. There’s always a slight sweetness to Grenache that chimes with a corresponding sweet note in a dish.

Australian Grenache panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Beth Pearce MW is the recently appointed head of buying at Flint Wines. Her extensive experience in the wine industry includes roles in retail and buying at Majestic and most recently buying director at Lay & Wheeler

Sara Muirhead MW is a wine consultant and communicator with more than 30 years’ experience in the wine trade. Her current focuses include wine tastings and events. She became an MW in 2008, and is a DWWA judge for Australia

Ben Chan is a senior wine specialist for Berry Bros & Rudd and a DWWA judge. After working as a winemaker in his native Australia, he is now based in London, where he was a sommelier at Hakkasan Mayfair and a WSET examiner

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The idea of Rieslingfreak seems absurd – an Australian winery that produces only Riesling wines, and up to 19 styles each vintage that focus on various different sites, blends and winemaking techniques.

However, the execution of this grand idea over the past 15 years by husband-and-wife winemaking team John and Belinda Hughes shows a spark of focused genius that has made Rieslingfreak a beacon for quality, innovation and excellence in Australian Riesling.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for eight fabulous Rieslings from Rieslingfreak

A family affair

When Rieslingfreak began in 2009, it had a very simple premise – for John to create a Riesling that best defined his parents’ vineyard at White Hut (John prefers the location’s alternative spelling, White Hutt), just north of Clare in South Australia.

They grow Riesling grapes that were traditionally sold to other producers and then blended into generic wines. John wanted to honour his parents with a wine that spoke specifically of their site and carry a label that clearly acknowledged its provenance.

Today, John takes most of the fruit from the five Riesling blocks, and his parents only tend to sell the fruit that is judged to be below Rieslingfreak standard, which depends on each vintage.

‘It was a pretty straightforward idea, but one Riesling was never going to be enough,’ says John, who was given the nickname ‘Riesling Freak’ during his university years, as a nod to his obsession.

‘I had so many ideas in my head, and so many styles of Riesling that I adore. I wanted to make them all, and I couldn’t see any good reason why not.’

So Rieslingfreak has grown, and grown, to now produce more than 144,000 bottles – not only to satisfy John and Belinda’s fascination with Riesling, but also to meet growing consumer demand that escalated after the 2017 Rieslingfreak No. 3 (from Huighes’ White Hut vineyard) won five trophies at the 2017 Sydney Royal Wine Show, including Best Wine of Show.

‘Riesling is a grape that allows – and deserves – many different types of expression,’ says John. ‘So that’s what we’ve done over many vintages, and every style deserves its place.’

Laser focus

John’s journey to realise this moment has been complicated. Born with mild cerebral palsy, which affects his coordination, mobility and speech, John has patiently and diligently set his mind to pursue winemaking with the astute precision that Riesling demands.

After completing a degree in wine marketing at the University of Adelaide, he worked as a technical analyst at the Australian Wine Research Institute for a decade, also travelling through regions in France and Italy to expand his knowledge before returning to the Barossa to work as production winemaker with the renowned Chris Ringland at North Barossa Vintners.

Only then, with considerable knowledge and experience to his credit, did he take the plunge to make his first wine under the Rieslingfreak label.

‘Growing up on an old Riesling vineyard at Penwortham in the Clare Valley and having my old man’s cellar full of aged Rieslings from throughout the world started my appreciation of the Riesling grape at a young age,’ recalls John.

‘Once my parents moved to White Hut in 1998, a big vineyard with five different Riesling sites, each with a different soil profile, I realised this was the resource I could use to start exploring all those different Riesling styles.’

In pursuit of a broad palette

He has a very capable ally in Belinda, whose relationship with John flourished at the annual International Riesling Challenge in Canberra, due to their shared infatuation with Riesling.

In 2021, after almost 15 years of making white wines for Grant Burge in the Barossa, Belinda joined John at Rieslingfreak, and now their great challenge is to see who gets to work with their favourite vineyard sites from across the Clare Valley and Eden Valley, vineyards which are both family and privately owned, each offering particular and distinctive characteristics.

This has seen them explore a variety of styles, far beyond the expected bone-dry Australian expression of Riesling. They make sparkling Riesling, a fortified, several sub-regional expressions with bottle age, and two regional blends designed specifically as export labels to appease growing US and UK interest – No. 33, featuring a meld of North Clare and Polish Hill River fruit, and No. 44, featuring three Eden Valley sites.

John’s personal favourites are the No. 5 Off Dry Riesling and the German-inspired No. 8 Schatzkammer (modelled on a Kabinett style), which show off his masterful judgement to balance sugar and acid in rich, textural styles that pursue a distinctive Rieslingfreak personality rather than simply mimic German benchmarks.

These two were presented during a special tasting which celebrated the July 2024 opening of a new cellar door just outside Tanunda in the Barossa Valley.

An occasion fit for the Queen of grapes

The bespoke tasting room has been designed as a temple devoted to Riesling, with its lofty cathedral ceiling and towering glass windows allowing maximum daylight to best examine the fragile colours of Riesling in the glass.

Imbedded green glass shards from broken Riesling bottles add a dazzling emerald sparkle to the polished concrete floor. Crucially, this large space with four spacious long table settings can accommodate growing demand for Rieslingfreak’s tutored tasting sessions.

John used the occasion to present a decade of the best Rielsingfreak wines, to study their endurance and staying power after time in the cellar. The array of wines tasted was extraordinary, led by a 10-year vertical of No. 2 Polish Hill River Riesling.

He also shone a light on his flagship wine, Rieslingfreak No. 1 (also known as Grounds of Grandeur Riesling), featuring hand-picked grapes from the best four rows of his parents’ White Hut vineyard, chilled for two days, then whole-bunch pressed, fermented with wild yeast and stored for 20 months in a bespoke 1,500-litre oak cask before bottling.

It now stands as an Australian benchmark with its AU$110 (£56) price tag – and the current-release (2020 vintage) shows its pedigree proudly, amplifying richness, complex textural quality, a meld of savoury and sharp citrus notes, and extraordinary length.

John is as complex as the wines he makes. An enthusiastic and fastidious cook, he entered Australia MasterChef in 2011, only to withhold a dish from the judges because it failed to meet his own exacting standards. He’s generous to a fault, yet unyielding in his assessment of excellence.

And while he’s uncomfortable if any fuss is made of his disability, he is a champion of disability support, having founded the Kicking Goals Scholarship programme that provides mentorship and educational funding for young people living with a disability.

‘I’m quite happy being the Rieslingfreak,’ he offers with a gentle smile. ‘And I’m delighted to be presenting a very different story about the diversity of fine Australian Riesling.’

David Sly’s pick of Rieslingfreak:

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During the first half of the 20th century, fortified wines dominated Australian wine production. They accounted for 86% of total global sales in 1950, versus just 2% of global sales today.

Production may now be tiny but, drawing on precious heritage stock, the faithful few who still make fortifieds can produce wines of unrivalled intensity and complexity.

Among their number is Penfolds. The full-bodied rancio house style of its Rare Tawny fortified wines reflects the older-than-average legal minimum age (see box below) of the blending material within Penfolds’ solera system.

Notes and scores for four old and rare tawnies below

A Tawny tradition

When Dr Christopher Penfold and his wife Mary Penfold founded the eponymous brand in 1844, they embraced fortified winemaking. Mary, a self-taught master blender, evidently had a fine touch.

Penfolds won a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exhibition for a ‘Tawny Port’. By the end of World War I, the company was Australia’s leading producer of ‘Port’ and ‘Sherry’.*

During this period, Alf Vesey (who had worked under Mary) set aside the 1915 vintage, which is believed to have been the foundation of Penfolds’ first cask of Grandfather Rare Tawny some 50 years later.

According to Penfolds’ current fortified winemaker Matt Woo, this private barrel was originally reserved for family, friends and special guests. That is until, in 1965, Penfolds launched its first commercial release of Grandfather Rare Tawny, which has a minimum average blended age of 20 years.

Heritage stock

The Penfolds tawny family has since grown and is based on fruit from the warm, dry climes of the Barossa Valley, as well as the Riverland for younger tawnies.

Great Grandfather Rare Tawny (which has a minimum average blended age of 30 years) was added to the portfolio in 1994.

Two decades later, the premium range was topped and tailed with the addition of Penfolds’ flagship 50 Year Old Rare Tawny and Father Grand Tawny (which has a minimum average blended age of 10 years).

Together with James Godfrey, Penfolds’ veteran fortified winemaker, Woo helped to create the 50 Year Old Rare Tawny.

He recalls: ‘We had very old rare wines tucked away and were wondering what to do with them. We could have bottled them as single-vintage colheitas, but then they would be gone forever. Instead we engineered a solera system to create a blend with an average age of 50 years.’

Solera ageing

‘Having done all the sums, checking the numbers many times,’ says Woo, they devised a solera (fractional blending) system. This allows Penfolds to draw off enough wine to fill 330 (hand-blown) bottles at a time, while maintaining a minimum average blended age of 50 years.

Thrillingly, the solera included a 2.5-litre glass flagon of the 1915 tawny alongside the 1940 and 1945 vintages, the first two commercial releases of Grandfather (1965 and 1969) and the first Great Grandfather release from 1994.

The use of a solera system is a key point of difference between the three Penfolds Rare Tawnies and tawny Ports from Portugal. The latter – like the Penfolds Father Grand Tawny – rely exclusively on master blenders to create blends from individually matured barrels.

The base wines for Father Grand Tawny are matured as individual vintage and varietal components in seasoned oak hogsheads, before blending.

Base wines for Grandfather Rare Tawny are matured separately for the first 14 years. After that, a barrel selection is blended and becomes the topping wine for the first stage of the ‘Grandfather solera’. Composed of six progressively older stages, the final sixth stage produces a tawny for bottling with a minimum average blended age of 20 years.

Great Grandfather Rare Tawny is drawn from stage six of the ‘Grandfather solera’ and selected exceptional batches of maturing Grandfather Tawny. These components are further aged, then blended and introduced into the ‘Great Grandfather Solera’ for bottling with a minimum average blended age of 30 years.

Uniquely Australian

Varietal composition and maturation in much warmer, drier conditions also differentiates Penfolds’ tawnies from tawny Port.

‘The backbone is Shiraz, for richness, weight, depth of flavour and full-bodied characters. Mataro (aka Mourvèdre) gives savouriness and, because it ages more rapidly, carries lovely wood-aged rancio characters,’ explains Woo.

Grenache, another key player, brings ‘aromatics, juiciness and wonderful brightness.’ Warm-climate (Barossa or Riverland) Cabernet Sauvignon is rich and plummy, not herbaceous, he emphasises.

Bit players include Portugal’s Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão and traditional varieties, including the white grape Muscadelle which, says Woo, ‘was used as a natural acid adjuster.’

He emphasises that, contrary to popular belief, they don’t pick super-raisined grapes. Instead they ‘let the tawny maturation process give those wonderful characters.’

The goal ‘is a brighter fruit spectrum and not vast amounts of tannin; we’re looking for balance,’ says Woo. Once the fruit is in barrel, solera barrels are worked annually.

‘A little bit of air movement just keeps them alive. And looking after your barrels is important, because you don’t want that stale oak coming through,’ explains Woo.

Inside the barrel is where the magic happens. The Barossa’s warm, dry climate drives the rate of evaporation, accelerating concentration and maturation, as does maturing the tawnies in small seasoned 300-litre barrels (filled to 280 litres) under a corrugated metal roof. It is torrid in summer when the top stack of solera barrels can reach 55℃; in winter, the temperature can plummet to less than 8℃.

Because this evaporation, the so-called ‘angel’s share,’ also increases alcohol, sugars and acidity, ‘the wines grow into themselves a little bit more with time in barrel,’ says Woo. ‘There are a lot of very happy angels,’ he quips, reflecting on the process that underwrites Penfolds’ signature rancio flavours and smooth texture.

Heavenly spirit

Rancio characters typically develop after a decade in barrel. With an average minimum age of 10 years, Father Grand’s elegant charm lies in its relatively plush, fleshier palate.

As one might expect, Penfolds’ intensely concentrated Rare Tawnies are darker and richer, with higher residual sugar (around 220g/l versus Father Grand’s 160g/l).

They are satisfying without being heavy, and finish savoury and long. This is attributable to their markedly nutty, woody rancio flavours and impressive backbone of acidity and spirit.

For Woo, the potent yet beautifully integrated, unaged spirit is another hallmark of the Penfolds house style.

‘We’re looking for a bit more purity than Port, with wonderful leather and aniseed flavours and a bit of creaminess and richness to help marry into the fruit right from start,’ he says.

Like tawny Port, Penfolds’ tawnies are made to drink on release. After all, Penfolds has done the ageing for you and the angels have already taken their share.

This is particularly judicious in the case of Penfolds 50 Year Old Rare Tawny which, although drawing on the oldest blending material, is exquisitely balanced for such a charismatic, intense fortified wine.

Australian fortified wine classification system

Australian tawny* – less than 5 years in age

Classic tawny – 5-10 years in age

Grand tawny – 10-15 years in age

Rare tawny – 15+ years in age

*Since 2011, Australian fortifieds cannot be labelled ‘Sherry’ or ‘Port’; tawny styles are simply badged ‘Tawny.’

Penfolds Rare Tawny wines: tasting notes

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History is the foundation on which Penfolds has built its success as an Australian winery of provenance. As the winery celebrates its 180th anniversary this year, the Penfolds Collection 2024 not only echoes this history, but also reinforces the company’s future as a globally minded wine producer.

To unveil these wines in Australia, media were invited to a private tasting at the historic Kalimna Vineyard – one of the most important Penfolds sites in the Barossa. It was a frosty morning in the middle of an especially cold South Australian winter.

These ancient vines have endured such conditions countless times through their 136-year life. Yet they still produce some of the finest and most distinctive Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia.

The setting underlined what Penfolds does best. Yet while its international reputation rests on distinctive Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon has shone brightest in recent vintages. Indeed outstanding Cabernet accounted for the best talking points of the Penfolds Collection 2024.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for the Penfolds Collection 2024 releases

Anniversary release

Supreme-quality Cabernet is the star component of a special new release, created to mark Penfolds’ 180th anniversary. Inspired by the legendary Bin 60A 1962, the superb Bin 180 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz, features elite parcels of grapes from the esteemed 2021 vintage.

Chief winemaker Peter Gago emphasised that many previous Penfolds special releases paved the way for such styles to continue through subsequent vintages. It was a strong indication that other wines from Penfolds’ Coonawarra vineyards built according to this model could be expected in coming years.

Napa Cabernet

Smart treatment of Cabernet Sauvignon also defined the highlights of Penfolds’ increasingly impressive portfolio of wines made with grapes from countries outside of Australia. The fourth vintage release of Penfolds’ Californian wines has seen a significant step forward.

Each of four wines that feature Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon demonstrate more confidence and restraint.

Penfold senior winemaker Steph Dutton had smartly suggested issuing a single-vineyard wine from the 2021 Californian vintage: an elegant blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from Howell Mountain vineyard.

‘It was a response to an extraordinary parcel of fruit,’ says Dutton. ‘It’s not typical of what you’d expect from Napa Cabernet – and it really signifies that we are prepared to make a very different type of wine from this region.’

Bordeaux blends

Cabernet Sauvignon is also the key component of two notable French collaborations. The FWT 585 is a Bordeaux blend featuring Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot. While the ambitious Penfolds II combines Dourthe Bordeaux Cabernet with Penfolds Coonawarra Cabernet.

But the most unorthodox and curious use of Cabernet is in CWT521. This is the first release of a blend from two Chinese vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon from the southwestern Shangri-La region in Yunnan Province and Marselan from the northern Ningxia Province.

Penfolds fortified and spirits winemaker Matt Woo has overseen the Chinese wine trial project. He has great enthusiasm for the potential of Marselan, which is a hybrid of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache.

‘We are only just coming to appreciate the potential of the generous Marselan flavours,’ he says. ‘But this wine points us in an exciting new direction.’

Wines in the 2024 Penfolds Collection will be released globally on Thursday 1 August.

Penfolds Collection 2024: scores and tasting notes

Wines are listed in score order, sparkling, white, then red

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Barossa Shiraz 2022 overall vintage Rating: 4/5

A strong vintage with fruit of superb quality despite small yields. Winter rains nourished the vines, but frost, hail and wind events affected bunch sizes and reduced yields. Summer was cooler than usual; grapes ripened slowly and steadily in ideal conditions. The longer ripening period produced more nuanced, complex flavour profiles.

If you think you know all about Barossa Shiraz, think again. The historic South Australian wine region leapt to international prominence in the 1990s for the sunny generosity and driving power of its old-vine Shiraz. But the 2022 vintage shows things are changing. Significantly.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for wines rated 94 and above

The best new wines from the Barossa have a leanness and nimbleness that belies a long-held stereotype of Shiraz behemoths labouring under the weight of high alcohol and super-ripe fruit. Now, alcohol levels have dipped, palates have lively middle-weight verve and an understated elegance draws you deeper into the charm of these wines.

The 2022 vintage – a strong vintage with fruit of superb quality despite small yields – provides a fascinating viewpoint to observe this transition in motion. The stars of Decanter’s inaugural vintage report on the region have cast the profile of outstanding Barossa Shiraz in a fresh light.

Vintage conditions

Coming on the heels of the esteemed 2021 vintage, grapes from 2022 have produced superb wines, despite some vintage challenges. Strong winter rains during 2021 continued into spring, giving great nourishment to the vines, but this good news was tempered by damaging pockets of frost plus fierce hail and wind events during flowing that affected bunch sizes and reduced yields.

Summer was cooler than usual, but forecasted rains never happened, so the grapes ripened slowly and steadily in ideal conditions. Warm, sunny days and cool nights stretched into early autumn, and the longer ripening period produced more nuanced, complex flavour profiles in the grapes.

Despite its late conclusion, the 2022 vintage produced an ideal set of circumstances for Barossa winemakers to highlight important stylistic changes they have made in handling the finest quality Shiraz grapes.

An evolution of style

The most exciting wines are far removed from the Barossa’s historical ‘reserve’ styles, so prevalent in the early 2000s. At that time winemakers seemed obliged to focus on concentration, the strong use of new oak and strident tannin profiles – often with grapes ill-equipped to handle such assertive treatment.

There was a misguided belief that powerful fruit from old Shiraz vines could only be fully expressed with maximum ripeness, with all those inflated grape sugar levels being converted into high alcohol.

The best new-style Barossa Shiraz shows that notion to be a fallacy. Winemakers using components of whole bunch fermentation have added crucial vitality, pretty perfumes and energy to the depth of old vine complexity. Fruit is being picked earlier, to retain more sharply defined acids that amplify clean flavours.

Suddenly, there’s dramatic contrast at play – a rigorous pull between red and black flavour profiles, as lithe and luscious textures wrestle with tannic grip – proving that more Barossa winemakers have found smart ways to express intense old vine flavours with greater nuance and poise.

Click here to see all the wines tasted for this report

Producers to watch

Several of the most compelling 2022 Shiraz interpretations are provided by people who have come from outside the Barossa. They include Michael Hall, who evaluated jewellery in Switzerland before devoting himself to making wine in France, then in the Barossa; as well as Alex Head, of Head Wines, from Sydney.

Thistledown’s Masters of Wine Giles Cooke MW and Fergal Tynan MW are UK-based. While Alkina winemaker Amelia Nolan, from Wrattonbully, also spent several decades in the UK wine trade.

Alkina proprietor Alejandro Bulgheroni is from Argentina. Belinda van Eyssen from South Africa is emerging as a striking new talent with The Cutting winery.

Their keen perspective on refined wines of elegance underscores that great Barossa fruit is an asset that shines when treated with tender care, rather than labouring under unnecessary hefty weight.

It’s therefore encouraging to also see stalwarts including Torbreck, Kaesler and Hentley Farm lighten the load of their Shiraz without sacrificing power and persistence. Greenock Creek is also in transition to embrace a more restrained style.

Other Barossans are looking at Shiraz afresh, from the vineyard rootstock up. Winemaker Dan Eggleton, whose Ben Murray Wines Shiraz 2022 is impressive for the lively appeal of its powerful old vine fruit, is now working with grower Matt Neldner to explore different Shiraz clones in greater detail.

They are making small parcels of wine from the 2023 vintage from five different Shiraz clones (R6, 1653, 1125, SAVVI60, PT23), all sourced from the same terroir in the Barossa’s Marananga sub-region.

Barossa: the facts

Founded: 1842

Vineyards: 14,236ha under vine, with 11,847ha in the Barossa Valley (elevation 112m-597m) and 2,389ha in the adjacent Eden Valley (elevation 217m-637m). This represents 9.7% of Australia’s total wine production.

Climate: dry and hot. Barossa average rainfall 160mm; Eden Valley average rainfall 280mm. Mean temperatures during the key January growing period: 21.4℃ in Barossa, 19.4℃ in Eden Valley.

Vine age: Barossa has the oldest producing Shiraz vines in the world planted in 1843. 283ha of vines are more than 70 years of age; 82ha are more than 125 years old.

The 30 top-scoring 2022 Barossa Shiraz

Related articles

• Barossa and McLaren Vale Grenache: old vines, new passion
• Yalumba 175th anniversary: Museum Collection wines released
• Elderton: Over 40 years of Cabernet and Shiraz in the Barossa Valley

Years ago when interviewing Ian Hongell, he dismissed generic stereotypes about South Australia’s Barossa Valley: ‘it’s not one flat paddock!’ Back then he worked for Peter Lehmann. Today Hongell is chief winemaker and general manager at Torbreck, a winery that shot to fame in the 1990s by cherry-picking the best of that ‘paddock’.

Influential US critic Robert Parker gave rave reviews for Torbreck’s opulent Shiraz-based wines, sourced from select dry-grown, old-vine parcels, vinified in small batches and seamlessly constructed. Parker awarded 100 points to the inaugural 2005 vintage of The Laird, Torbreck’s flagship single-vineyard Shiraz, now among Australia’s most expensive wines.

Scroll down for scores and tasting notes of 16 Torbreck wines

Dave Powell, a self-taught winemaker intent in his pursuit of high-end Barossa Shiraz, founded Torbreck in 1994. ‘It was remarkable what Dave achieved in the period he was involved with the business,’ reflected Hongell. ‘He broke ground for many Australian producers.’

Hongell admits that, prior to joining Torbreck, he’d not fully appreciated the pedigree of this 85 hectare estate and its 200ha of contract fruit sources.

Torbreck pays more than AU$10,000/tonne for top grapes. Before acquiring The Laird vineyard in 2014 (allegedly Australia’s most expensive vineyard purchase by price per hectare) Torbreck reportedly paid AU$20,000/tonne for its grapes.

Within this elevated price range ‘you’re genuinely accessing different fruit – little bullets that sit on the vine, enduring the season. They give lovely woody tannins and colour, stable anthocyanins and tannins, but the wines are still primary and vibrant.’

Sticking to the Torbreck blueprint

Hongell joined Torbreck in 2017, by which time the company had changed hands twice. First in 2003 (following its receivership), then in 2008 when acquired by American ecommerce magnate Peter Kight, the current owner. Powell remained at Torbreck until 2013, leaving following an acrimonious spat with Kight.

Speculation was rife that Torbreck would falter without its charismatic founder, but the wines continue to sell out. ‘With gentle price increases across the portfolio,’ adds Hongell. Two extraordinarily low-yielding vintages in 2019 and 2020 saw them over-allocated.

Hongell says that with ‘amazing wines and an amazing brand’, his brief was simple: to keep making Torbreck. The core DNA of the wines revolves around the vineyards, which are substantially the same as they’ve always been. They are focused on the elevated slopes and depleted soils of the Barossa Valley’s Western Ridge and Lyndoch, plus an Eden Valley component.

Winemaker Scott McDonald – a veteran of 16 Torbreck vintages – is well-versed in the signature grape handling and maturation regime. There was a blueprint, said Hongell, and making wine is a team effort.

‘We want you to smell the aromas and taste the fruit,’ explains Hongell. ‘Mature, very fine tannins rein the fruit in, setting the wines up for longevity.’ He enjoys the reds in their first five years when they are upfront, and then around 15 to 20 years from vintage ‘when the vineyard character really shows up’.

Taking the risks on ripeness

Torbreck’s ‘go hard or go home’ methods of late picking and dry farming in a region that sometimes goes without rain for 300 days in a year has given Hongell sleepless nights. If a weather front comes in but the grapes are not ready to pick ‘we hang on the edge and gamble – we’re about creating flavours and textures that only time can give’. Hongell’s nickname is ‘rhino hide’ for his steadfast resistance to growers anxious to pick.

And this ability to pick so late is thanks to site selection, deep-rooted old vines and chief viticulturist Nigel Blieschke’s rigorous vineyard management. Blieschke zealously measures bud counts and yields to avoid fruit cooking inside the berry and collapsing – ‘we hate undesirable Porty or sweet and sour flavours,’ asserts Hongell. With such low yields, ‘awesome pH’ contributes to the wines’ natural balance.

To balance its ultra-concentrated fruit, The Laird’s lavish oak comes courtesy of ‘magic barrels’ from Dominique Laurent, the Burgundian winemaker who established his own cooperage.

Exclusive to the flagship Shiraz, the extra-thick staved barriques are made from particularly tight grained French oak, seasoned and toasted slowly for slow-leaching tannins and oxidation.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cuvée Juveniles – a luscious Grenache–Shiraz–Mataro blend – sees no oak. In between, Hongell uses fine, tight barriques, up to 50% new, plus an increasing number (currently 30) of French oak foudres ‘in quite judicious ratios relative to the wines’. The wines are all unfined and filtered, and Hongell recently introduced temperature and humidity management in the cellar.

Latest vintages

There is no such thing as normal, or even new normal, when it comes to harvest dates these days. Famous for its long hang times, ‘Torbreck never starts picking in February, but this year we did!’ exclaims Hongell during our tasting of the winery’s recent releases.

Save for 2021 – which Hongell describes as ‘a Goldilocks vintage – perfect in every way’ – the Barossa has experienced a roller-coaster run of vintages, savaged by yield-scything frost and hail events. With drought in 2019 and 2020 and three wet starts in 2021-2023, he observes: ‘You’ve got to have dry and wet racing tyres’.

On joining Torbreck, Hongell avowed ‘to keep the wines “Torbreckian”, but improve them, with consistency across the range’, while understanding ‘the best fit’ for each vineyard. ‘All children are different, and need a different upbringing,’ he quipped.

This tasting of predominantly new releases reinforced that he has remained true to his word. Through thick and thin vintages, irrespective of price point, the wines are resolutely Torbreckian in their hedonic fruit power and high alcohol. They also continue to gain in finesse. Even at 15 to 15.5% alcohol, Torbreck’s seductively perfumed reds have striking balance, detail and precision.

For Hongell, homing in on ‘super-fine, super-tight grained barrels for a much slower uptake of oak’ has improved the wines, which have become less broad, ‘with less showy oak’. ‘Drilling into everything in the vineyards on a deeper level’ has not only contributed to quality and consistency, but also extended Torbreck’s range.

Hongell is cock-a-hoop about The Forebear Shiraz 2019, the maiden release from 12 original rows from Hillside Vineyard, which were planted around 1850. From Lyndoch in southern Barossa, it is voluptuous; while The Laird from the north is all ripped muscle. Though different children indeed, both sit at the apex of Torbreck’s family of wines.

Paying it forward

There are no plans to expand production, although in 2019 Torbreck acquired Escarpment Winery in Martinborough, New Zealand from Larry McKenna, who continues to make its acclaimed Pinot Noir).

In the Barossa, where land values have skyrocketed, the focus is about securing the highest-quality fruit from existing vineyards and safeguarding the brand’s future. Just as Powell planted the Descendant vineyard with old-vine Runrig Shiraz cuttings in 1994, the Daylight Chamber vineyard has been planted with heritage clones – cuttings from exceptional Torbreck-owned and grower Shiraz vineyards.

Meanwhile, the Hillside vineyard has been supplemented with parcels of Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Viognier, Roussanne, Carignan and Counoise. ‘Salt and pepper,’ says Hongell, ‘to sharpen aromatics, and tweak and tighten up a broader, denser wine without losing its identity or changing our style’.

Hongell believes these new vineyards are less susceptible to modern diseases like eutypa dieback. In 150 years, he speculates, future generations might feel as thankful about working with centenarian vineyards as he does today. ‘Torbreck stands for the preservation of history and sites so we are paying it forward.’

Torbreck: the facts

Founded: 1994 by Dave Powell

Proprietor: Pete Kight, since 2008

Annual production: 75,000 12-bottle cases

Vineyard sources: 85ha Torbreck-owned: The Laird, Hillside, Keller, Descendant, The Daylight Chamber; plus 200ha owned by 35 growers

Vine age: Plantings from 1850s to 2017

Key varieties: Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Semillon

Production: 18 wines: 14 red, three white, one rosé

Price range: AU$25 to $800/bottle

Torbreck: 16 new releases and older vintages tasted and rated

Related content

Elderton: Over 40 years of Cabernet and Shiraz in the Barossa Valley

Peter Lehmann: Stonewell Shiraz vertical and other select releases

Yalumba 175th anniversary: Museum Collection wines released

Yalumba winery was established in 1849 by Samuel Smith, whose success as a gold prospector bolstered his fledgling Barossa Valley property. At the time it stood out as a fiercely independent enterprise built on the endeavour of a strong-minded family that focused on steady growth.

Now, 175 years later, as the Hill-Smith family’s sixth generation is being introduced to the business, careful balance is maintained. One eye is focused respectfully on Yalumba’s history, while the other focuses on the future of a medium-sized wine company with ambitions to have its best wines regarded more seriously.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from an exceptional celebratory tasting

As Australia’s oldest family-owned winery, Yalumba is acutely aware of its place on the world stage. Respected for providing generous wines of superb value, it now strives to attain higher peaks of excellence with a range of elite varietal examples and exceptional blends.

Family values

The family has a passion for history, tradition and self-sufficiency. This was best exemplified when current chairman and former CEO Robert Hill-Smith, his mother Helen Hill-Smith and brother Sam Hill-Smith bought back all the company shares in 1988 to ward off threatening corporate raiders and ensure Yalumba’s tight family ownership. This has allowed the Hill-Smiths to steer their own course, retaining things they value that many wine corporations may consider superfluous.

Click here to read Decanter’s Yalumba Producer Profile

For instance, Yalumba maintains its own cooperage to ensure wine barrel quality control. It also established a vine nursery to propagate less-familiar grape varieties – most notably Viognier, which Yalumba has championed since 1980 – and superior clones to improve underperforming vineyards. This also fuelled the Hill-Smith family’s expansion beyond the Barossa and Eden Valley to include significant vineyard holdings in Coonawarra and the Riverland in South Australia.

Old vines and wines

The winery has been a steadfast champion of preserving and caring for ancient vines. Key Barossa vineyards include Clifton Estate (Shiraz planted in 1854), Shorts Vineyard (Shiraz planted in 1900) and the Tri-Centenary vineyard (Grenache planted in 1889).

It was Yalumba that helped draft a charter to accurately classify different ages of ‘old’ vines into four definite categories – Old (+35 years), Survivors (+70 years), Centenarians (+100 years) and Ancestors (+125 years). In the Yalumba playbook, such attention to detail makes a significant difference.

Yalumba has also maintained an extraordinary cellar at its Angaston winery and headquarters – to examine the quality of the company’s own wines as they age, and to store great wines of the world as benchmarks for the education of its winemakers.

Museum Collection

Central to this vast wine vault is the Yalumba Museum Collection, which is being issued on 17 May as a milestone anniversary celebration. More than 20 years ago, the company encouraged its winemakers to identify wines from superior vintages that would be ideal for long-term cellaring, and reserved significant quantities of these vintages for later release.

Now, the stellar examples of this programme – The Octavius 2009 and 2014, The Caley 2014, The Menzies 2014 and The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz 2009, 2012 and 2014 – are being sold in a limited release.

These wines formed the centrepiece of an extraordinary invitation-only tasting event to mark the winery’s 175th anniversary. It saw the seven mature Yalumba wines presented in the company of many iconic international wines, to compare similar vintages or observe stylistic contrasts.

To mark the unique nature of such an expansive tasting, Robert led a discussion with the assembled group of about 100 media and wine industry tasters about each of the 36 featured wines.

Highlights of the tasting

Both Robert and leading wine critic Andrew Caillard were particularly pleased with the 1974 Yalumba FDR 1A Claret: a model for Yalumba’s extensive history of Cabernet Sauvignon-driven blends with Shiraz. They noted it was: ‘In particularly good shape, with surprisingly good structure, still bound by fine tannins and prevailing acid to retain long flavour notes.’

Hill-Smith Family Estates chief winemaker Sam Wigan highlighted Yalumba’s 1923 Shiraz Port, a rare treasure from the Yalumba Museum Cellar. ‘It was stunning for its complexity, nuttiness and savouriness after so many years,’ he said. ‘A glassful of Australian wine history.’

The expansive discussion even sparked some curious debate, with former chief winemaker Louisa Rose – recently appointed Hill-Smith Family Estates’ first head of sustainability. She defended her belief in Viognier producing wines of distinction from lengthy cellaring, which is a view not shared by Robert.

Final destination

It all served to shed light on Yalumba’s philosophies, its changing views over the years, and the intellectual rigour that it brings to winemaking – particularly its blends of Cabernet Sauvignon with Shiraz. This style stretches back to the 1800s, but advances made in recent decades by senior red winemaker Kevin Glastonbury – especially with The Caley, a blend of elite fruit parcels that was first produced in 2012 – shows Yalumba performing at its best.

According to Glastonbury, the tasting and the selection of Museum Collection limited releases vindicates many of Yalumba’s winemaking intentions and selections. He particularly singled out the lavishly oaked The Octavius old-vine Shiraz that now looks smartly in balance after a decade in the cellar. ‘Like all winemaking, it’s a journey,’ he said, ‘and it’s very pleasing to see these wines arrive at their intended destination.’

Yalumba Museum Collection wines

Tasting notes for the new Museum Collection and a selection of older vintages tasted at the launch event.

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Ancient Australia: World’s oldest vines and 10 wines to try

When Neil and Lorraine Ashmead acquired their new Barossa Valley home in 1980, the Nuriootpa homestead came with the surrounding 29ha of old vines for free. Thirteen years later, those old vines – specifically Elderton Cabernet Sauvignon 1992, which remains impressive to this day – bagged the prestigious 1993 Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy.

‘It put a million dollars on the top line straight off,’ says their son Cameron Ashmead. With his brother Allister Ashmead, he is co-managing director of Elderton, the Barossa brand founded by their parents in 1982.

These days, old Barossa vines have dizzy price tags. Take the Mengler Hill Vineyard in Eden Valley, which cost Elderton AUS$3.5m in 2023. However, as Cameron explains: ‘We see a very bright future for Shiraz and Grenache especially. We’re investing for the future.’ Describing it as ‘a climate hedge’, at 500m, Mengler Hill is not only elevated, it also receives 50% more rainfall than the family’s Barossa Valley floor vineyards.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 11 current and library releases from Elderton

Having increased the family’s tally of prime Barossa vineyards to four, Cameron is also thrilled at the prospect of extending Elderton’s range with ‘high end’ Mengler Hill Shiraz, Grenache and Riesling.

Meanwhile, the latest vintages of Elderton’s GSM, Neil Ashmead GTS Shiraz and Barossa Shiraz (a superb buy) highlight a traditional advantage of multi-vineyard ownership, namely blending across sites for balance and greater nuance.

Looking beyond Nuriootpa (the lowest vineyard) has undoubtedly helped Elderton to hone a different style for its wines. As Cameron puts it, to make the wines that are ‘a bit more modern – lighter and fresher and more approachable on release, so you don’t have to cellar them for seven years’.

The early days

Winemaking had not been on the agenda when, following a stint in Saudi Arabia, Lorraine and Neil Ashmead moved into the rundown Nuriootpa homestead with their three young sons. Neil’s job selling tractors for Caterpillar and the couple’s attempts at bathtub wine hardly qualified them for the job.

It was Lorraine’s entrepreneurial father, Wellington Rice, who acquired the property in 1980. He was hoping to tempt his daughter and family back to Australia and revive the neglected vineyard, planted in 1894. It worked, but Rice’s grape-growing plans soon fell victim to a disastrous grape glut.

The government’s Vine Pull Scheme offered a way out, but Lorraine and Neil opted to make wine from their ancient vines instead. With help from noted Barossa winemakers Peter Lehmann and Jim Irvine, Elderton released its first wines in 1982.

Looking back, Cameron attributes their parents’ success to ‘equal parts naivety, amazing foresight and hard work’.

During that time, many grape growers were pulling out Cabernet Sauvignon because Shiraz was easier to farm. But Allister says that keeping this variety – more associated with cooler regions – gave Elderton ‘a leg up’. And that manifested in Elderton winning the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy.

Elderton: a commitment to Cabernet

Elderton still makes an Estate Cabernet today, but the collector’s favourite is the premium Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon. ‘We call it the epiphany wine,’ says Allister. ‘People go from, “Are you kidding? A $100 Barossa Cabernet?” to “That’s pretty good!”’ The grapes come from deep-rooted vines, planted in 1944 in alluvial silt near the North Para River.

It’s made, in minute quantities, by Elderton’s head of viticulture and winemaking Julie Ashmead (Cameron’s wife) and winemaker Brock Harrison. ‘Ashmead is a unique site,’ says Julie. ‘It’s a precise wine, very niche, with amazing floral aromas.’

Julie, a fifth-generation winemaker who has worked vintages in Bordeaux as well as at Barossa properties Two Hands and Turkey Flat, says that the Cabernet used for Ode to Lorraine ($50), from younger vines on more clay, ‘is more typical of the Barossa – much greener, with bay leaf notes’.

Elderton is a true family-run business, with Allister’s wife Rebecca the winery’s export manager who also looks after bottlings. The two couples have three children each, which bodes well for the third generation of Ashmead grower/winemakers in the Barossa.

Allister says the family has an ongoing commitment to Cabernet Sauvignon, thanks to his parents tenacity and early success with the variety, and Elderton has since has planted heritage cuttings from Ashmead as well as new Cabernet clones.

Expressive Barossa Shiraz

For all their love of Cabernet, however, it is Shiraz that garners the most attention in the Barossa. The premium counterpart to Elderton’s Ashmead Cabernet is the Command Shiraz. First made in 1984 exclusively from 1894-planted blocks, it was at the vanguard of bold Barossa old-vine Shiraz lavished with new American oak.

But times have changed, says Allister, and now the goal is to ‘make wines which are much more expressive of us and our place’. Elderton introduced French oak alongside the American in 1996, reduced fermentation temperatures in 2010 and, since 2013, Command has spent its final year in seasoned (as opposed to new) oak barrels.

Elderton recently purchased small concrete tulip fermenters to allow for smaller batches than in the traditional nine-tonne concrete fermenters. Advantageously the tulips can be closed, allowing for pre-soaks and extended macerations. Julie believes ‘it will help the vineyard to express itself as purely as it can’.

The Ashmead family started out making single-estate wines, then cast the net wider to buy fruit from select growers for its entry-level E-Series range. Having acquired Barossa-designate vineyards in Eden Valley to the east (2007) and Greenock to the west (2010) to join the original Nuriootpa vines, the Ashmeads have since reined in production.

‘It’s about being in control of quality and consistency,’ says Allister. The Estate Family Vineyards range blends fruit from all three sites ‘to produce a great bottle of wine for $30’. As prices climb, individual site nuances come into sharper focus – sharp contrast even – peaking with Elderton’s Elite Single Vineyard wines. These include the Ashmead Cabernet ($100), Command Shiraz ($125) and the Helbig 1915 Shiraz ($350) from Greenock’s oldest vines.

Grand Tourer and Helbig 1915

Julie says the three vineyards have distinct tannin structures. From Nuriootpa they are ‘deep, silky, long and layered’; from Greenock they are ‘punchier and upfront’; while wines from the cooler, rockier and younger Eden Valley site (Craneford) have ‘slatey, edgy tannins’.

In 2018, the family explored the interplay of Nuriootpa and Greenock Shiraz for the Neil Ashmead Grand Tourer ($50). The wine honours their travelling salesman father, who took his own life in 1997. It’s a more vibrant, contemporary style than the Command Shiraz, thanks to Greenock’s dynamic tannin structure and earlier-ripening Shiraz clone. It also is no longer aged in 100% new oak.

While the vines used for the Grand Tourer Shiraz (GTS) were planted in 1980, the oldest block in the Greenock vineyard was planted by the Helbig family in 1915 – source of Elderton’s so-named blockbuster Shiraz.

‘Promoting this style may not be seen as a good thing in many circles,’ concedes Allister, ‘but it was never about making a “Command Plus”. It’s about what the vineyard has done historically and seeing where we go with it. Like GTS, the style of Helbig 1915 will evolve over a decade before we get to understand it.’

The maiden 2013 release of Helbig (then called Fifteen) was truly ‘hell big’, says Cameron: ‘it was the biggest wine we’d made in the last 15 or 20 years!’ The 2013 vintage was an exceptionally early and dry year, whereas the 2018 release is still big, but relatively approachable with less density and more juice.

Old-school Barossa

Visitors to Elderton’s cellar door can be assured of a big, warm Barossa welcome as well as wines. Renovated a cost of more than AU$1 million, the old Nuriootpa homestead and gardens won a Great Wine Capitals Best of Tourism Award in 2019.

Cameron says being on hand to greet visitors and do tastings at the cellar door, as well as travelling to host dinners with avid collectors, is ‘just old-school Barossa hospitality’. But it also helps people connect with the family and their story: ‘It makes people believe, because it is real.’

Allister admits: ‘We were terrified when the pandemic broke, but then we had a deluge of phone calls and orders. People said “we’re sticking with you”. It makes you feel pretty amazing!’

Elderton: the facts

Founded 1982 by Neil and Lorraine Ashmead

Owners/managing directors Cameron and Allister Ashmead, since 2003

Winemaking team Julie Ashmead and Brock Harrison

Annual production 30,000 cases of 12

Estate vineyards Nuriootpa (27ha), Greenock (25ha), Craneford (15ha)

Key wines Command Shiraz, Ashmead Cabernet, Helbig 1915, Ode to Lorraine, Estate Cabernet, Estate Shiraz

Elderton: Current releases and select back vintages

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Eden Valley winemakers will reflect on the 2023 Riesling vintage for two powerful reasons. First, its long and cool harvest, which guaranteed rich fruit that retained strong acidity. And second, the death of inspirational pioneer and Riesling master John Vickery.

Curiously, the influence of both factors had a bearing on the 2023 vintage, which became evident at a recent gathering of Eden Valley wine producers presenting a comparative tasting of their new-release Rieslings.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 15 Eden Valley Rieslings from the 2023 vintage

Assembling a wine industry tasting of almost 50 Rieslings from this sub-region of the Barossa in South Australia is now an annual event. It celebrates Eden Valley having a very specific identity to the Barossa Valley, with distinctly different soil profiles, elevation and topography.

The tasting also amplifies Eden Valley’s place among Australia’s preeminent Riesling locations, as a strong rival to producers in the Clare Valley, Tasmania and Frankland River in Western Australia.

What was evident among these new releases is the enduring legacy of Vickery, who was instrumental in establishing a style that captured fine, delicate flavours and continues to define the attributes of Australia’s best Rieslings.

His Leo Buring Riesling from 1955 generated unprecedented excitement for Riesling at the time, and signalled the first white wines of consequence in Australia.

The great and the good of Eden

Vickery’s passing on 23 September at the age of 90, having won more than 50 trophies and 400 gold medals across more than 50 years as a winemaker, was acknowledged by the gathered winemakers.

He was remembered for setting exacting standards in his winery, which others in the Barossa noted – especially after Vickery’s major awards began rolling in – and duly followed suit. Excellence throughout the region blossomed, putting Eden Valley Riesling on a pedestal. Standards have never diminished.

It was appropriate that the tribute to Vickery was spoken by Andrew Wigan, an acolyte of the late great Peter Lehmann and master winemaker responsible for the revered Wigan Reserve Riesling made by Peter Lehmann Wines.

Wigan still serves as a consultant in his retirement, offering advice on several impressive Eden Valley Rieslings from the current vintage, including Tomfoolery and Gibson Wines.

Other disciples continue to follow John Vickery’s lead, most notably Phil Lehmann, son of Peter Lehmann, who had worked with Vickery to launch the Vickery Riesling label in 2016.

Phil is now producing his own classic style of Eden Valley Riesling with his boutique Max & Me label. But he also makes Riesling for Eden Hall Wines, remaining true to the Vickery winemaking gospel, with all wines stellar examples of poise and purity.

Divergent interpretations

However, there is more than one way to make Riesling, as the diverse spread of offerings at the 2023 vintage tasting illustrated.

While the favourable 2023 vintage showed generous flavours and long palate length, a broad variety of styles ranged from severe and austere, to lush wines with more rounded mid-palate texture, to vivacious, sunny wines carrying a trace of residual sugar. To presume Eden Valley Riesling is only about citrus blossom, steely acidity and a mineral lick is a mistake.

To emphasise this, several Eden Valley producers now issue more than one Riesling, not only to identify terroir differences but also to experiment with different production styles and textures.

The most enthusiastic purveyors of multiple Riesling expressions are John and Belinda Hughes, whose Rieslingfreak label produces a dozen different styles each vintage, sourced from two regions.

‘It’s a grape that allows – and deserves – many different types of expression,’ says John. ‘So that’s what we’ve done over many vintages, and every style deserves its place.’

Styles of substance

This path has inspired others in the Eden Valley to produce more than one style of Riesling, including Pewsey Vale, Henschke, Hutton Vale, Thorn-Clarke and Chaffey Bros. Even outsiders to the region who buy parcels of Eden Valley fruit from individual grape growers see great merit in releasing more than one expression of Eden Valley Riesling.

‘Each vineyard has such individual personality, that they insist on being handled separately,’ explains winemaker Elena Brooks of Dandelion Vineyards, based in McLaren Vale.

‘Fruit from the Wonderland vineyard, planted in 1912, is super special. It has such purity; you can’t blend it. The Enchanted Garden vineyard produces fruit of a fuller flavour, with less stern acidity and is more immediately approachable. It’s okay for us to have two different styles and celebrate both.’

Producing more than one version of Riesling also has a commercial rationale. Sam and Angus Wardlaw’s Brothers at War label offer a pair of starkly different Rieslings, deliberately designed to appease separate aesthetic and commercial objectives.

‘We love serious Riesling, but that style seems too severe for a big part of the marketplace,’ says Sam, ‘so we also make a fresher, low alcohol, more approachable style of Riesling as well, to introduce a new, younger audience to this grape variety.

‘It’s working, so we get to expand the Riesling fan club a little bit further.’

Eden Valley 2023 Riesling: 15 top wines to try

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During South Australia’s ruinous grape surplus of the late 1970s, Peter Lehmann famously put his neck on the line, buying grapes from Barossa growers whom his employer, Saltram, had dropped.

It was a huge risk for the winemaker and his wife Margaret, who called the fledgling negociant business they went on to found Masterson Barossa Vignerons, after the inveterate gambler Skye Masterson in the musical Guys and Dolls.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 14 Peter Lehmann wines, including a vertical of Stonewell Shiraz

Then again, by 1979, the 49-year-old winemaker had learned his craft from a Barossa legend, Yalumba’s Rudi Kronberger, before making his mark at Saltram.

The new business attracted major investment and, says senior winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines (PLW) Brett Schutz, Peter (who died in 2013) ‘was a saviour of the Barossa; he led the industry and made our region viable and beautiful, so people really looked up to him’.

Shared values, family and community

Barossa born and bred like Lehmann (who gave his name to the business in 1982), Schutz was thrilled to join PLW in 2022. ‘With Shiraz running through its veins and a lasting legacy of pride and community, it’s somewhere you are proud to be,’ says the man who got married at the winery in 2005.

Lehmann’s loyalty to his community has been repaid in kind over the years, and not just in the precious Barossan grapes which, from the outset, have been supplied on a handshake (and still are today).

When one of PLW’s early major investors pulled out in 1992, growers rallied to help the Lehmanns save the company via a public float on the Australian Stock Exchange. The capital was subscribed almost overnight, with investment from 3,600 people, including Barossa growers, staff and friends.

In 2003, together with the Hess family (whose business had been selected as PLW’s US distributor), the Lehmanns saw off a takeover bid from the multinational drinks company, Allied Domecq. When the Hess Group sold its 86% shareholding following Peter Lehmann’s death, PLW was sold to Casella Family Brands in 2014, with Margaret’s blessing.

Managing director John Casella recalls: ‘Margaret and I often sat down and discussed our shared values of family and community, and these conversations provided the assurance that the brand would continue to keep its core values and return to Australian family ownership. It has been both a personal delight and an honour to be able to uphold the family’s enduring legacy, ensuring that the Lehmann name remains at the forefront of Australian winemaking and maintains its grower relationships.’

Little black jewels

The strength of PLW’s enduring grower relationships and the quality of the resulting fruit go a long way to explaining why Stonewell, the company’s flagship Shiraz, has been made every year since 1987 (when it was called Peter Lehmann Show Dry Red). It was even produced in 2011, a notoriously wet year, with leading Australian wine critic James Halliday remarking of the wine: ‘You would never pick the vintage in an options game [a blind tasting], its black fruits are perfectly ripe.’

Over the years, about 60 of PLW’s 80 growers from across the Barossa Valley have provided top-grade Shiraz for Stonewell. While originally centred around the hamlet of Stonewell (hence the name), these days the fruit tends to come from the northwest of the Barossa, especially Lights Pass and Ebenezer, although there are no hard and fast rules – Stonewell was sourced from just two vineyards in 2011 and only three in the cool 2017 vintage.

Casting the net wide for, as Lehmann put it, Stonewell’s ‘little black jewels’ has guaranteed consistency and the requisite colour, depth and mouthfeel. You need small berries, though; those tasting like red wine gum sweets do not, observed Schutz, have the ageing potential of riper black fruit.

Schutz dubs Stonewell’s distinctive tannin architecture ‘Christmas tree tannins’. He explained: ‘You build a foundation with some really muscular, rich tannins and envelope that with mid-weight tannin. These provide the structure and weight, then you coat it with tinsel – the fine grain and finesse.’ The wine’s densely layered but long, ripe tannins indeed stood out and contrasted strikingly with the velvety, fruit-forward style of 8 Songs Shiraz 2017.

Power and grace

The tasting also highlighted the shift from partial barrel fermentation and ageing in sweeter, aromatic American oak, to subtler French oak hogsheads, which started in 1996. Since 2012, exclusively French oak has been used and time in barrel has reduced from a giddy 30 months to as little as 12.

Another step change which reflected Casella’s major investment took place in the barrel hall in 2015, specifically in the upgrading of its temperature and humidity control. The old barrel cellar relied on foil insulation and regular rotation of barrels that were stacked six high. ‘The angels were happy in those days,’ quips Schutz, referring to the loss of wine through evaporation during ageing, the so-called ‘angel’s share’.

The dividends for freshness and precision, especially fruit definition, were readily apparent in Stonewell 2016 and 2017 (two contrasting vintages). Compared with the monolithic 2008, I anticipate that both vintages will age with power and grace.

Released five years after vintage for optimal ageing, Stonewell is broachable, but the vertical underscored its capacity for ageing – the 1989 in magnum showed well during the tasting and was holding superbly a couple of hours later.

As if that is not testament enough to Lehmann’s winemaking talent, the Semillon he named after his wife Margaret has bagged more gold medals than the best long distance runner. One does not expect a Barossa Valley white to age comfortably for 18 years, as the Margaret Semillon 2005 has, and it held its own within this remarkable Stonewell vertical.

See tasting notes and scores of 14 Peter Lehmann wines, including a vertical of Stonewell Shiraz

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• Decanter’s Dream Destination: Kingsford The Barossa

Think of Australian wine, and one region probably pops to mind: the Barossa. With its picturesque landscapes of lush vineyards and sun-baked stone farmhouses, this corner of free-settled South Australia isn’t the country’s oldest wine region but – thanks to a worldwide thirst for Aussie Shiraz – it’s definitely the most famous.

Home to respected names like Yalumba and Torbreck, Barossa has developed over the past 180 years from pastureland and bush to oenophile wonderland, with now more than 150 glossy wineries and 80 cellar doors welcoming visitors for tastings.

Built in 1856, Kingsford has been there to witness almost all of this vinous transformation. Originally a private home, today the property sets the gold standard for boutique regional accommodation, fusing history with sublime vintages – providing a real taste of Australia’s favourite wine region.

Heritage & innovation

When Lincolnshire man Stephen King left Britain in the mid-1800s to settle in South Australia, he couldn’t have known what Barossa was to become. The wealthy pastoralist and entrepreneur built his grand two-storey Georgian-inspired home on his sprawling land outside the settlement of Gawler – drafting in sandstone from Edinburgh for the exterior, a grand Gothic cedar staircase and cellars for storing local produce. For decades set among relatively sleepy landscapes, Kingsford was a watering point for coach parties passing through the region; you could almost consider it the original cellar door.

Fast-forward 167 years and Kingsford is now one of Barossa’s most appealing boutique hotels. Acquired by the locally rooted Ahrens family over a decade ago, it benefitted from a multi-million dollar rethink in 2020. Australian stonemasons crafted a sympathetic expansion, so among the original property’s Georgian elegance there are fresh draws: dedicated wine vaults, multiple bars, expanded accommodation. In the original homestead building, timeless suites in warm neutral hues largely come with chandeliers, Louis XVI-inspired chairs and floral prints. In the new wing, contemporary View Suites with minimalist furnishings feature floor-to-ceiling glass opening up to the Barossa landscape. It’s a judicious – and luxurious – blend of old and new that doesn’t compromise the property’s soul.

Discovering Barossa wine

Of course, for any Decanter reader, it will be the vinous programme that makes Kingsford especially appealing. You need only take a look at the newly built wine tunnel – home to a museum collection of Penfolds Grange and a complete line up of Henschke Hill of Grace – to know that it takes Barossa wine seriously.

Much of the liquid joy centres around meals in the main Orleana restaurant, where by-the-glass pours of local treasures meet native yabbies (a freshwater crayfish), Coffin Bay oysters and wagyu beef with a Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz reduction. Though you can also enjoy tastings in a number of private dining spaces – including the original 1856 slate-floor cellar – or sip on something casually by the pool.

Once you’ve exhausted the vinous options on site, the rest of Barossa is at your disposal for discovery; and you’re really spoilt for choice in terms of proximity and quality. Rockford Wines, with its exceptional Basket Press Shiraz – made from vines aged between 60 and 140-plus years – is just a 20-minute drive away. Only 15 minutes away, historic Seppeltsfield (established just five years before Kingsford was built) has a centennial cellar where you can taste a 100-year-old tawny straight from the barrel. Even the lauded Penfolds is nearby, where in its grand environs you can try making your own wine blend or sample a precious sip of Grange.

Wine imbues every part of the Barossa Valley but make time for the region’s other pleasures and you’ll find the visit even more satisfying. Farmers’ markets bursting with fresh produce; fabulous restaurants like fermentAsian; hot air balloon rides. At Kingsford itself, join an ATV tour across the property’s historic 91ha or hike trails where kangaroos, kookaburras and parrots are spotted. Or just kick back in a ‘bush bath’ – an alfresco soak in a deep claw-footed tub, soundtracked by nature and accompanied by a cheese plate. Now, what would Mr King have thought of that?

For further information see Kingsford The Barossa

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The Penfolds Collection 2023 includes 25 new releases, retaining a strong international focus, with wines sourced from three countries in two hemispheres.

Last year’s rumours of a Chinese wine launching this July were founded, although with limited quantities of the wine – Chinese Penfolds Winemaking Trial 521 Cabernet Sauvignon Marselan 2021 – produced, it will not be available in the UK/Europe initially and was therefore not included with the other new releases tasted for this article.

At an exclusive preview launch in Melbourne on 21 June and then in London six days later, Penfolds’ chief winemaker Peter Gago presented an expanded suite of five wines featuring California grapes and two experimental blends with Bordeaux fruit.

Scroll down for Tina Gellie’s tasting notes and scores of the 25 wines in The Penfolds Collection 2023

It represents a powerful positioning statement that underlines Penfolds’ expansive global winemaking view.

‘These wines show that the Penfolds house style can be consistent across many viticultural regions around the world,’ said Gago at the Melbourne preview tasting. ‘When people try these wines, we want them to think immediately of Penfolds, but we also want them to recognise that they are significantly different.’

The third vintage release of Penfolds’ California wines has seen noticeable tweaks and refinements. The 2020 vintages of the Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon and Bin 704 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon are more seamlessly bound, while the 2020 Bin 600 Cabernet-Shiraz blend has a much warmer mid-palate embrace. The ambitious ‘Wine of the World’ blends – 2019 Quantum and 2020 Bin 149, fusing Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley and South Australia – are surprisingly lifted yet remain powerfully structured.

There are greater curiosities among the French duo. Penfolds II is a multi-vintage meld of Bordeaux Merlot (sourced from Dourthe vineyards) with South Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, while the 2020 FWT 585 is Gago’s vision of a Bordeaux blend, using Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Merlot sourced in Bordeaux but shaped with a familiar Penfolds tannin profile and matured in a mix of French and American oak.

Outside the Collection, Penfolds also has a collaboration with Champagne house Thienot, and attendees at the London preview tasting were treated to the new 2013 vintages of the Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs (released in February earlier this year). Preview tastings were also held in Bordeaux, California and, for the first time in three years, China.

Classic Australian releases

True gems were found among classic Australian releases from noble varieties. This included an exemplary 2021 Yattarna Chardonnay and a highly approachable 2019 Grange Shiraz. But it was the Cabernet Sauvignons that stood out: a supremely elegant 2021 Bin 169 from Coonawarra and the 2021 Bin 407 multi-region Cabernet which punches well above its weight compared to big brother Bin 707 (also impressive), and is arguably the best buy of this year’s range.

Aware that the 2019 Grange follows gushing accolades for the acclaimed 2018, Gago presented the new release alongside three decades of other ‘9 vintages’ – the 1989, 1999 and 2009 – which had each been overshadowed by dominant prior vintages. On tasting the magnificent 1999 Grange, it certainly suggests that the quality of the handsome 2019 vintage will endure.

‘Nothing stands still,’ says Gago, so yet again Penfolds has spread its wings with a new addition to the already sizeable portfolio, as well as making significant adjustments to several existing Bin Series wines.

A new style of Grenache – Bin 21 – was introduced for the first time, so called because it marks 21 years since Penfolds released its first Cellar Reserve Barossa Grenache. The new wine is significantly different in style, with haughty tannins framing a concentrated fruit profile.

The source region for Bin 23 Pinot Noir has moved from the Adelaide Hills to Tasmania, with the resulting wine shifting from a blocky, dry red palate to a more slender, nuanced style. Also notable is the vibrant 2021 Magill Estate Shiraz, revitalised thanks in part to the Magill Estate vineyard being partly grubbed in 1996 and replanted with superior heritage vines from Penfolds sites.

The Penfolds Collection 2023 wines will be released globally on Thursday, 3 August.

The new Penfolds Chinese wine, Trial 521, combines Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Shangri-La in Yunnan Province and Marselan grapes from Ningxia region. The initial release, later this month (July 2023), will be small and have limited distribution.

The Penfolds Collection 2023: Tina Gellie’s assessment of Grange 2019 and 24 others

Wines are listed in score order white then red by country; Australia, California, Wines of the World then Bordeaux

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This year marks 15 years since photographer Dragan Radocaj first visited the Barossa in South Australia. Initially a landscape specialist unfamiliar with wine, his powerful images have come to speak volumes about the vineyards, people and wines of this famous region. 

‘Marketing geniuses are always coming up with ideas to sell wines, but photographs are the way to get to the centre of the wine story. My photographs make the connection between the vines, the landscape, the people and the process of making wine.

‘I look long and hard, from every possible angle, to see what’s special about a vineyard. Once I’ve found the perfect angle, I’ll keep shooting again and again to capture all of its personality. I’ve done this for Rockford, Seppeltsfield, Henschke and a year-long photographic essay on Langmeil Winery’s The Freedom vines from 1843.

‘Old vines look like sculptures. After years spent revisiting them, I’ve come to treat them like peers, like friends. I give them respect.

‘At Henschke’s Hill of Grace vineyard, I had taken photographs of one particularly striking Grandfather vine captured over three different seasons. When I went back to photograph it to complete the seasonal story, I couldn’t find the right vine, even though I was so familiar with it. Then I realised one of its brittle arms had broken off. It made me so sad, so deeply upset. Like seeing a friend who has lost a part of their body.

‘In lots of shots I’ve taken, the vineyards don’t look the same anymore. My images are important historical documents about their life and journey.

‘I came to wine photography as an outsider, so I look at everything from a fresh perspective. I was completely swept away by the incredible canvas of colours: the vineyards, the mountains, the ferments, the grapes in the basket press. I was like a kid in a chocolate factory, shooting photographs every single day. I was living with my wife by the beach in Adelaide and travelling up to the Barossa. Eventually she said we’ve got to move, so in 2010 we bought a house in Tanunda.

‘I’ve found so much support in the Barossa. The people are very welcoming. And I’m familiar with this, because I grew up in a village of only 1,500 people in the former Yugoslavia. I was born in Sydney, but sent to live with my grandparents in the old country. I came back to Sydney when I was 23 and I didn’t speak any English. I had to start again.

‘I actually made three short films before I moved to Adelaide and started studying photography full time. I graduated in 2008. I was mentored by master photographer Andrew Dunbar and, through his introduction, my first client was Langmeil. It was the first time I’d ever been in the Barossa. I didn’t even drink much wine then – but that has changed!

‘I’ve been commissioned to shoot images of other wine regions too: McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek… But the Barossa is home, and even after all these years I don’t feel I’ve exhausted all my photography options here. I keep going back to my favourite sites, because I’m drawn to the light. It’s an urge I can’t resist. I’ve literally taken thousands of images in the same framing.

‘Whenever I need to relax, I take photos. When the moment is just perfect, adrenaline kicks in. I almost stop breathing when the perfect shot happens. It’s an incredible experience.

‘I don’t really like big blue skies. I like the drama of storms – the way light pokes through the grey clouds, lightning storms, dust storms, the rainbows at the end. That’s where the magic is. That’s why I’ll stand out in the vineyard and wait hours for the right moment. When people see these images, they feel emotion.

‘In 2019, I had the incredible honour of being named a Baron of the Barossa. I’ve never entered any photographic competitions, so this is the only award I’ve ever won.’

‘Seppeltsfield had me on a retainer for several years to photograph the property, and I started using the kitchen of the old Seppelt family homestead during Covid-19. Now Seppeltsfield has allowed me to use this as a gallery to exhibit and sell my fine art prints.

‘Because I’m now concentrating on fine art photography, I’m always out exploring the landscapes. I like to travel the backroads. I’ve travelled all my life and that’s where I like to be. You never know what’s around the next corner, and I’m very happy there.’

For more images, visit www.draganfineartgallery.com or visit the studio at 730 Seppeltsfield Rd, Barossa Valley, South Australia 5355.

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Sydney-based TV personality and MasterChef judge Melissa Leong hosted the event at Langton’s, Australia’s leading fine wine auction house.

A total of 250 bidders raised their paddles during the auction, which showcased 34 exceptional lots of rare bottlings from the Barossa.

A bottle of Penfolds Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Imperial led the charge, as it fetched A$40,120.

It fell short of the record set in 2021 by a bottle of Penfolds Grange 1951, which fetched A$142,131 at the Langton’s Penfolds Rewards of Patience sale, but it helped drive the total achieved on the night to A$294,882.

The prices include an 18% buyer’s premium on the hammer price, which includes general sales tax.

Fine wines from elite producers such as Henschke and Rockford also contributed to the strong overall performance.

Many of the wines were sold in large formats. Tamara Grishy, managing director at Langton’s, said they are popular with collectors, as they are rare, they come direct from the wineries and they last a long time.

All funds raised will go to The Barossa Australia Well-Being Fund, a foundation that provides the wine region with mental health support.

‘The thirst for Barossan wine, traditional and contemporary, manifests as buoyant sales well exceeding the reserve prices for almost every lot,’ said Ned Goodwin, a London-born Master of Wine, who works on content, education and events for Langton’s.

The company specialises in auctioning exclusive, limited and rare fine wine. Langton’s reported that the secondary market for Barossa Valley wines in Australia has reached unprecedented strength, supporting trends of greater investments in higher-priced wines.

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Kevin Glastonbury, the senior red winemaker for Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family-owned winery, founded in 1849, is in London this week for a trio of premium releases.

And while Glastonbury crafts all three of the wines – which Decanter has exclusively tasted ahead of their UK launches – one is particularly personal this vintage.

Scroll down for Decanter‘s exclusive first taste of Yalumba’s The Caley 2018, The Octavius 2018 and The Signature 2019

Released globally on 1 June for AU$365 (£195), and being shown to UK media for the first time on Tuesday 6 June, Glastonbury will present the latest vintage of its elite blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, The Caley 2018.

Meanwhile, Yalumba’s fifth-generation proprietor Robert Hill-Smith announced last week that The Octavius 2018, the premium old-vine Barossa Shiraz, would debut on La Place de Bordeaux in September. Usually priced around £80 a bottle, its oldest surviving vineyards, from 1844 were planted a year before the 1855 Bordeaux Classification.

Finally, and most personally, The Signature – the flagship Cabernet-Shiraz blend that has honoured Yalumba ‘family members’ on its label since 1962 – is dedicated to Glastonbury in 2019. He shares the accolade alongside former chief viticulturalist Robin Nettelbeck who retired in 2022 after a 45-year career at the winery.

The Signature 2019 – a viti-vini union

This 49th vintage is a fitting tribute to Glastonbury, known as the ‘custodian’ of The Signature, having made the blend since joining Yalumba 24 years ago.

‘I hope my custodianship will be remembered as an era of refinement and great style,’ Glastonbury said. ‘Over the years I have watched Signatories accept their honour, teary and humbled – it puts what I do into perspective.

‘It’s so much more than just a wine,’ he added. ‘To receive this honour makes it worth the effort you put in.’

Glastonbury, known as KG, started at Yalumba 22 years after Nettelbeck, a fourth-generation Barossa grape grower who joined in 1977.

In reflecting on his 45-year tenure, Nettelbeck said his greatest achievement was the initiation, growth and success of the Yalumba Nursery. ‘Through our clonal research and development there has been a seismic shift in grape quality reflected in all our wines.’

Hill-Smith announces the new vintage’s Signatories at Yalumba’s Christmas party. In late November 2022, during a visit to the winery, I was one of the first to taste the newly bottled (but unlabelled) 2019 – well ahead of its Australian release on 14 April and UK launch this week.

Always generous, well-structured and superb value for under £40, The Signature 2019 is a stunner, showing great freshness alongside rich Black Forest gateau-like flavours and supple tannins. A benchmark Aussie red blend, it comprises 52% Barossa Valley Cabernet and Shiraz from both Barossa and Eden Valleys, from vines 45 to 100 years old.

The Caley 2018: the best yet?

Australian wine critics such as Huon Hooke, the joint Regional Chair for Australia at the Decanter World Wine Awards, and David Sly, who writes on South Australia for Decanter, were among the first to taste The Caley 2018 at a preview tasting on 4 April, before its release on 1 June.

Yalumba’s icon wine (AU$365/£195) is only in its sixth vintage and Hooke regards it as the best yet, surpassing – in descending order – the 2015, 2016, 2012, 2014 and 2013.

Only released in exceptional vintages, and with almost two years of bottle age, there was no 2017, and will be no 2020 either, with Glastonbury undecided on the 2021.

He describes the 2018 as a ‘strong, vibrant vintage’ showing ‘beautifully defined aromatics, richness and concentration’.

In Sly’s note on the 2018, he says the highlight of this blend of 80% Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Eden Valley Shiraz is its ‘comforting savoury notes that envelop the mid-palate and keep descending through its densely layered structure’.

The Caley is named after Fred Caley Smith, grandson of Yalumba’s founder Samuel Smith. The bottle label of each vintage highlights a leg of a cross-continental research trip he took, the 2018 vintage commemorating his time in Portugal in March 1894.

The Octavius 2018 joins La Place

Announcing the forthcoming September debut of The Octavius 2018 on La Place, Bordeaux’s fine wine marketplace, Hill-Smith said this ‘uniquely Yalumba and uniquely Australian’ old-vine Shiraz represented the best of what the Barossa had to offer.

On tasting the 2018 for Decanter at an exclusive Australian preview tasting in April, Sly found it had ‘dialled down the aggression’ of previous vintages, however still ‘celebrates the muscle of 100-year-old Barossa Shiraz’ just in a more elegant package, helped by cooler, higher-altitude Eden Valley fruit in the blend and less strident oak.

Based on some of Australia’s oldest surviving vineyards, dating to 1854, The Octavius (first made in 1988 with recent vintages releasing at £80) was originally aged in Yalumba-coopered octaves, the small 100-litre barrels imparting a strong oak influence on the wine.

Today the wine matures in new and seasoned barrels of various sizes, from octaves to 300-litre hogsheads, to ensure the old-vine fruit complexity and Barossa terroir shines through.

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Justin Knock MW, Tina Gellie and Roger Jones tasted 68 wines with 11 Outstanding and 34 Highly recommended.

Barossa Shiraz: Panel tasting scores

68 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 11

Highly recommended 34

Recommended 22

Commended 0

Fair 1

Poor 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their still, minimum 85% Shiraz reds sourced 100% from Barossa, Barossa Valley, Eden Valley or High Eden, in pairs comprising a current release and a mature vintage, 2015 or older, of the same wine/cuvée.

The Barossa is a special place for Shiraz. At its best, few regions come close (with any grape variety) in matching the fruit quality, layers of complex flavours, depth and richness of tannin – and in such a wide range of stylistic interpretations. Regardless of price or ambition, the majority of Barossa Shirazes age and mature beautifully, holding their fruit depth for many years as they evolve into the equivalent of a much- loved, supple leather recliner.

So it was somewhat surprising that finding producers, or their UK importers, with both a young and more mature vintage of the same Shiraz cuvée proved so challenging. Our request, canvassed widely over several months, was not for commercially available quantities of one or both wines, but simply a pair of bottles (restricted to one pair per producer): the first being the current release, the other a vintage from 2015 or older. While the 34 pairs entered certainly gave a great overview, we expected far more submissions.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Barossa Shiraz panel tasting

It’s an axiom of our trade that the concept of ‘fine wine’ is underpinned by the ability to improve with age. Barossa Shiraz is ‘fine’ by this definition alone, but finding mature examples in the UK is beyond difficult. The UK’s top restaurants love the classic regions of Europe partly because mature stocks are so readily accessible. Should Barossa Shiraz and other Australian fine wine wish to seriously appear on the same lists, then older vintages need to be more widely available.

British consumers and the wine trade still love the boldness of Barossa Shiraz, and there is a loyal fan base on these shores that appreciates the hedonistic pleasure it can bring. We saw a range of styles perform well in this tasting, from those that we may today call ‘traditional’ – that is, riper fruit and more overt use of (deeply integrated) oak – to wines which show that the Barossa is more assuredly moving in the direction of simpler winemaking, alluding to more reductive handling at times, and which allows the wonderful purity of fruit to shine brightly.

‘I’ve always known Australian Shiraz as the best-value wine in the world,’ said Roger Jones. ‘With age it’s absolutely stunning, and so it proved in our tasting. Two decades of ageing should be no problem for top Barossa Shiraz. Even if you buy the cheaper wines from the big names and age them for five years, the benefit you’ll get is incredible.’

See all 68 wines from the Barossa Shiraz panel tasting

The older vintages we tasted covered a range of different conditions: the challenging heat of years like 2008, 2013 and to some extent 2016, to the more balanced but richer vintages such as 2004, 2010 and 2015. ‘The fact that only two of the top 11 wines in the tasting were from younger vintages demonstrates how seductive well-aged Barossa Shiraz can be,’ said Decanter’s Tina Gellie. ‘The regions’ wines are beloved by many for their opulent drinking in youth, but fans should resist drinking these latest releases and lay a few bottles down. With the right storage conditions, they can be cellared with confidence.’

Sadly not all the wines showed well, and the major problems of the weaker wines were often aligned to over-extraction, drying tannins and tired fruit. I would also add that the older bottles blossomed early in our glasses, so don’t linger over the decanter – enjoy them swiftly after opening.

Barossa Shiraz panel tasting scores

The judges

Justin Knock MW is director of wine for luxury wine merchant Oeno Group, overseeing its buying, marketing, trade and retail activities, and he is one of two DWWA joint Regional Chairs for Australia.

Tina Gellie is Decanter’s Content Manager and Regional Editor for Australia as well as several other New World countries. She grew up in Australia, ultimately working at The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide from 1996 to 2001, where she first developed her love for South Australian wines.

Roger Jones is the retired former owner of The Harrow at Little Bedwyn restaurant in Wiltshire. He is now a wine writer, judge and consultant with a particular interest in the hospitality trade, as well as helping charities. He is a DWWA judge, with a focus on New World regions.

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Henschke is releasing the new vintage of its five single-site Eden Valley wines together for the first time on 3 May, in celebration of a series of anniversaries.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the Henschke 2018 releases

The 2018 Hill of Grace marks 60 years since fourth-generation winemaker Cyril Henschke first created what was to become Australia’s most famous single-vineyard Shiraz.

And the wine named in his honour, the Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon, celebrates the 40th anniversary of its first vintage.

The 66th release of Mount Edelstone Shiraz, arguably Australia’s longest consecutively produced single-vineyard wine, the 15th release of Hill of Roses, a mass selection from 1860-planted Hill of Grace vines, and the fourth release of The Wheelwright, whose vines were 50 years old in 2018, make up the Eden Valley single-site reds.

Henschke released Keyneton Euphonium 2018, a Shiraz-Cabernet blend from Eden Valley and Barossa Valley fruit last year.

Fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his viticulturalist wife Prue described the 2018 vintage as ‘a standout of the decade’ – a fitting year to mark the 150th anniversary of Henschke family winemaking.

‘The wines from 2018 have wonderful complexity, richness, depth and balance, an expressive sense of place, and fine and mature tannins,’ explained Stephen. ‘They are comparable to exceptional-quality vintages such as 1982, 1990, 2002 and 2010, all from mild seasons that have shown excellent ageing potential in ideal cellaring conditions.’

2018: an exceptional vintage

It’s the fourth vintage in a row the Henschkes have rated ‘exceptional’. During a video call with them, Prue said that while the ripening period leading up to the harvest between 21 March and 14 April was ideal, conditions leading up to that were ‘bizarre’, ‘bamboozling’ and ‘a real climate change scenario’: rain, frost and hail, then very hot weather in mid-January followed by more rain in February which led to cool conditions for veraison.

‘I think that’s why the wines look really well balanced because the vines didn’t have to go through extremes of weather during ripening,’ she said.

In terms of grape maturity on the vine, Stephen felt that 2018 was a ‘picture-book season’ giving ‘beautiful, perfumed, fragrant, complex red wines that are elegant, as Eden Valley always is, but with bright fruit flavours and a lovely plushness alongside that elegance’.

Another distinguishing feature of the 2018s, he added, was the ‘fine, textural tannins’ which run through all the reds.

‘But the thing that Prue and I have attempted to achieve is a sense of place in each of our wines. So the wine speaks of the vineyard, not an oak forest, and you get that beautiful flavour of the unique vineyard site – that you can taste how Wheelwright is different to Mount Edelstone and Hill of Grace and Hill of Roses.’

Tasting the Henschke 2018 wines

That elegance, plushness and texture shines through, not least in the Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon. Not made in 2017 – ‘we didn’t get the maturity’, said Stephen – the 2018 is a fitting toast to his father, who first planted their Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in 1969.

‘We have this single vineyard planted to Cabernet, Merlot and Franc on a gentle north-facing slope that acts as a solar panel, so we get lovely maturity in the Cabernet in those warmer years,’ he explained, particularly when combined with the late-ripening season in 2018.

‘We’ll look back in years to come and say: wasn’t 2018 a great vintage? It really is.’

The lightest and most Pinot-esque of the Henschke’s single-site Eden Valley Shirazes is The Wheelwright, named in honour of Stephen’s great-great-grandfather Johann Christian Henschke, founder of the family winery in 1868. Stephen’s father Cyril planted the vineyard in 1968 to celebrate the centenary, so this latest vintage (the fourth release) coincides with the vines turning 50 and the winery’s 150th anniversary.

‘The 2018 has sparked up beautifully,’ quipped Stephen, describing it as the perfect example of the fragrant, red-fruited, spicy, floral elegance of the southern Eden Valley.

Mount Edelstone in 2018 is superb. Typically modest, he said he was ‘really fond of it’, later admitting it is ‘one of our greatest examples of Mount Edelstone’.

First bottled by Stephen’s father Cyril in 1952 from a vineyard now 111 years old, 66 vintages have been released, making it arguably Australia’s oldest consistently produced single-vineyard wine.

‘The flavours really build on the palate,’ Stephen said of the 2018, ‘rolling across it and going forever. It’s a definitive Shiraz for Australia, but particularly Eden Valley because of the distinctive black pepper, sage and blackberry flavours.’

Hill of Grace and Hill of Roses

Always exciting is the chance to taste Australia’s most iconic single-vineyard Shiraz, Hill of Grace, alongside Hill of Roses, made from a mass selection of the original 1860-planted Grandfathers vines.

Prue planted this nursery block in 1989 for eventual inclusion into Hill of Grace. While the concentration is not there yet, its character became unique enough at 12 years old for it to be first bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 2001.

‘We’ve done some verticals to see how flavours of Hill of Grace and Hill of Roses are approaching each other. As the vines are getting older we’re starting to see more similarities,’ said Stephen.

‘But at 29 years old in 2018, it is still young for us,’ he adds. ‘So it’s not there yet but getting closer all the time. Not everybody has 30-year-old vines to compare to 150-year-old vines, so it has been a really interesting exercise to see how they change and when young vines really do become old vines.’

While Hill of Roses has a red raspberry, beetroot and candied prettiness to it, Hill of Grace exudes an exotic, earthy, spicy allure. It’s hugely complex, with concentrated deep, dark fruits and what Stephen highlights as ‘root vegetables’.

While these reds from Barossa old vines (35 years or more), Survivor vines (70+), Centenarian vines (100+) and Ancestor vines (125+) will age superbly for decades yet, Stephen recommends that people not only decant them, but taste them over several days.

‘After two, three, four days you get a completely new story every time you taste. It’s amazing how old-vine Barossa Shiraz can do that.’

Henschke 2018 single-vineyard wines plus other new releases

The 2018 vintages of Hill of Grace, Hill of Roses, Mount Edelstone, The Wheelwright and Cyril Henschke are available from the Henschke cellar door and website (henschke.com.au), in the UK via importer Liberty Wines and in the US via Winebow from Wednesday 3 May 2023.

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Marco Cirillo tends the world’s oldest surviving Grenache and Semillon vines. Planted in 1848 on their own rootstocks in the Light Pass parish of South Australia’s Barossa Valley and growing enough fruit to produce single-vineyard wines, these living relics hold far more than just historical value.

‘These vines aren’t good because they are old,’ says Cirillo. ‘They are old because they are so exceptionally good.’

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 10 wines showcasing Australia’s oldest vines

While it might be surprising to some, Australia has many of the world’s oldest wine grape vines – classic varieties sourced from France before the ravages of phylloxera in the 1880s. These ancient plantings now produce a raft of exclusive, distinctive wines, with a character quite separate to more youthful counterparts.

Australia’s ancient vine story mirrors the origins of its wine industry, when grapes planted by settlers from the 1840s as part of mixed farm plots, thrived and became a valuable trading commodity. These initial plantings formed the backbone of a robust fortified wine industry for more than 100 years, until a canny new generation of winemakers in the mid 1980s treated exceptional old-vine parcels separately to produce unique table wines.

The shift was led by Robert O’Callaghan’s Rockford Basket Press Shiraz and Bob McLean promoting St Hallett Old Block Shiraz – both harvested from a collection of privately owned Barossa heritage vineyards. The acclaim and demand for these wines saved many plots from being grubbed up to make way for housing developments.

‘We were the first to acknowledge that these old Shiraz vineyards were a rare and valuable resource in the Barossa – something that we should protect,’ says O’Callaghan. ‘There was definitely a distinctiveness about the wines that came from them.’

Age, not terroir, is the magic ingredient

Richard Lindner, co-owner at Langmeil, discovered through the 1843 edition of the The Royal South Australian Almanac that a patch of gnarly vines within a derelict Tanunda vineyard Langmeil purchased in 1996 contained the world’s oldest surviving Shiraz, planted in 1843.

Winemaker Paul Lindner noticed that grapes from this 1.5ha section had unusual concentration and length. Since 1997, he has harvested one tonne of fruit annually to produce 250 dozen bottles of The Freedom 1843 Shiraz. ‘Taste it and you know immediately it has unique depth and complexity,’ he says. ‘The flavours have power, but it’s more the balance between the acidity, fruit and tannins that makes it so outstanding.’

The magic ingredient is vine age not terroir. He knows this, as less distinctive neighbouring vines lie in the same deep loam and red clay soils over a bedrock of limestone, ironstone and bluestone.

The Lindner family say they’re custodians of these ancient vines and take their role as cultural historians seriously. ‘We know the Freedom vines tell a story about Australian wine that is so much older than most of the world realises,’ says James Lindner, Langmeil’s sales and marketing director.

‘Caring for this vineyard is a continual restoration program. The vines are fragile, and we take great care, especially when pruning. We’re determined to preserve them for the future.’

The Freedom 1843 Shiraz now features a gold banner on its label announcing its more than 125-year vine age. Its success prompted Langmeil to release a Pure Eden Shiraz from 1890s vines in Eden Valley’s Wattle Brae Vineyard. This year Langmeil launched The Lineage, a AU$300 limited release from its two ancient vineyards at Tanunda and Eden Valley.

World’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted in 1888 on four hectares of Block 42 at Kalimna in the Barossa Valley are a crowning glory of Penfolds’ vineyard assets. Penfolds purchased the vineyard in 1945, and winemaker Max Schubert noted the fruit’s intense flavours and rich mineral profile. He included some in early Grange vintages and now it is an important component of Bin 707.

Low yields mean Penfolds hasn’t produced many single-vineyard Block 42 wines, but the 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon Ampoule is among the winery’s most elite releases – 12 hand-blown glass vessels filled with the wine, each priced at AU$168,000.

‘To fill the ampoule with a great vintage from the world’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines is something absolutely unique that only we could do,’ says Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago. ‘It makes a spectacular statement about Australian wine.’

Comparisons with South Africa

Promotion of Australia’s ancient vine treasures is piecemeal – far removed from the clear focus of South Africa’s Old Vine Project, spearheaded by Rosa Kruger, Decanter’s 2022 Hall of Fame recipient. The project has 130 members and works cohesively as a sector. It identifies Certified Heritage Vines, supports growers by linking vine age to grape prices, drives heritage vine tourism bookings and promotes the release of 250 certified heritage wines a year. Producers also share their knowledge through the Old Vine Academy, offering specialised pruning courses.

James Lindner is critical that more Australian wineries have not followed Langmeil’s lead to trumpet the virtues of ancient vines. ‘We’re too often defending what we do rather than asserting the best of what we have,’ he says

To improve the clarity and honesty of identifying mature vine sources on Australian wine labels, Yalumba drafted the Barossa Old Vine Charter in 2007. Working with grape and wine biodiversity experts Vine Health Australia, the charter classifies Old Vines as 35 years or older; Survivor Vines at least 70 years old; Centenarian Vines at least 100 years old; and Ancestor Vines at 125 years old or more.

Yalumba chief winemaker Louisa Rose says recognising ancestor vines is especially significant. They contain genetic material that helped populate the region with cuttings that underpin viticultural tradition.

‘As vines age, the fruit produces a deeper, richer colour and a different tannin profile. I can’t explain it but can certainly recognise it,’ Rose says. ‘These fully mature vines have a deep root structure that draws out greater diversity of flavour and character. They deserve special recognition.’

Bottling 150-year-old Sauvignon Blanc

Australia’s greatest ancient vine surprise is 1870s Sauvignon Blanc, planted on two blocks in McLaren Vale’s Tintara region, originally tended by pioneer winemaker Thomas Hardy and still owned by branches of the Hardy family. This Sauvignon Blanc has provided an unheralded component of Hardys fortified wines.

‘Because these grapes ripen early and have pronounced natural sweetness, they’re perfect for fortified,’ says retired fortified winemaker Bill Hardy. The fifth-generation descendent of founder Thomas Hardy adds that Hardys seemed to be ‘the only winery in Australia that worked with Sauvignon Blanc in the early years’. Today, this fruit remains a component of Hardys Rare Liqueur Sauvignon Blanc. ‘You can taste the heritage in every mouthful,’ says Hardy.

Old vine assets

The volume of Barossa Shiraz that sits within these classifications is significant. In 2017, Vinehealth Australia reported 12.54ha of Ancestor Vines, 100.62ha of Centenarian Vines, 88.48ha of Survivor Vines and 589.06ha of Old Vines, collectively representing almost 10% of the region’s Shiraz.

The charter was forwarded to the Barossa Grape & Wine Association in 2009, broadening industry-wide recognition of the four-tier classification, which helped shine a light on all rare vine assets.

A significant beneficiary is Dean Hewitson, whose Old Garden vineyard at Rowland Flat has the world’s oldest surviving Mourvèdre, planted in 1853. ‘Just calling these old vines doesn’t say enough,’ he says. ‘That’s a term bandied about too much, and these ancient vines need more distinctive explanation.’

Long used as a high-cropped blender, Mourvèdre deserves recognition as an elite stand-alone red wine variety, believes Hewitson. He also wants the value of these rare old-vine assets reflected in high wine prices. ‘Before I bought this vineyard in 1998, the fruit went into Orlando’s cheap sparkling wine, Carrington Blush,’ he says. Now his Old Garden Mourvèdre sells for $90 a bottle. His flagship is Hewitson Barrel 1853 ($450) – a blend of Monopole Shiraz and Old Garden Mourvèdre, both planted in 1853.

‘The great gift that these ancient vines give is absolute consistency,’ says Hewitson. ‘Regardless of vintage conditions, you know the flavour profile you’ll be getting from these sturdy survivors.’

Marketing quality

Cirillo is also assertively marketing its ancient vine resources. The family knew the Light Pass vineyard it purchased in 1969 had reliable and renowned old vines, and initially sold their Grenache fruit to Rockford and Torbreck wineries, and Semillon to Peter Lehmann Wines.

It was only after Marco Cirillo’s discovery that the vines dated from 1848 that he kept the fruit for himself. He made the first Cirillo 1850 Grenache in 2003. ‘Another wine company had already trademarked 1848 for its Shiraz, so we used the more general 1850 on our label to avoid complications,’ he explains. ‘But we knew we had to identify the vine age on the label to draw attention to its unquestionable quality.’

Old vines in Victoria and New South Wales

The Rutherglen appellation in northern Victoria has old vine history that echoes the Barossa’s. Vines arrived during the region’s gold rush during the 1850s, and wineries including All Saints, Morris, John Gehrig and Chambers Rosewood were operating by the time gold mining subsided, producing mostly fortified wines – a tradition that continues today. Notable ancient vines are also in Victoria’s central Nagambie Lakes district, where Tahbilk boasts Shiraz planted in 1860 and Marsanne planted in 1927, which is part of the world’s largest single Marsanne plot, at 40.5ha.

In New South Wales, the Hunter Valley has 11 vineyards with vines of 100 years or more on their own roots – and the Tyrrell family owns seven. Tyrrell’s Sacred Sites label highlights six century-old blocks across four vineyards: Shiraz from 1879 off the 4 Acres Vineyard; Semillon and Shiraz planted in 1908 from Johnno’s Vineyard; the world’s oldest Chardonnay vines planted in 1908 at the HVD Vineyard; and the 3.3ha Old Patch of Shiraz planted in 1867 within the Old Hillside vineyard – the region’s oldest producing vines.

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There’s definitely something about lazing in the lap of luxury that makes savouring an elegant Grenache even more delicious… I’m surrounded by vines that wind up and over hills, watching them catch the glow of a setting sun while nibbling homemade fudge and honey biscuits. It’s a Thing of Beauty – as is my Tscharke Barossa Valley red.

While Shiraz is king in the Barossa Valley, Grenache has always shone in the background – ever since the first settlers brought bush vines from Prussia in the 1830s. The locals like to say: ‘Grenache delivers what Pinot promises.’

My magic moment is one of many I’m enjoying at The Louise, a luxury boutique lodge that makes guests feel comfortable and spoiled. It’s a star in one of Australia’s most famous wine regions.

All around the resort is a rich tapestry of colours and textures – vines that stretch to the horizon past gum-studded pockets of Aussie bushland. To the west, sunsets throw orange and purple into the sky. It’s spectacular from the pool.

Local heroes

The Louise also has impressive neighbours. Just across the road is Tscharke Wines and The Protagonist wine bar, plus Seppeltsfield Road Distillers (for a sneaky G&T).

Torbreck Vintners and David Franz Cellardoor are around the corner. While along palm-lined Seppeltsfield Road, past Two Hands, Izway and Hentley Farm is historic Seppeltsfield.

If it’s a famous Penfolds Grange or Henschke Hill of Grace that has drawn you to the Barossa, they are just minutes away.

A stylish stay

The Louise has had a few facelifts in its time, but nothing as dramatic as its latest transformation. The style is southern European with an earthy touch of Tuscany. Now part of the Baillie Lodges and Luxury Lodges of Australia families, it boasts a calming, understated elegance.

Each of the 15 villa-sized suites here offers a complete escape. They’re helped by three private courtyards, one at the entrance, my happy place facing the vines and an outdoor bathroom.

You’ll notice the attention to detail from the already lit fireplace to a minibar/coffee station stocked with local offerings (included in the price). The Louise also has its own brand of beautiful toiletries – and there’s even a TV in the bathroom.

The staff are impeccable. There’s no ‘falling over you’ – that’s just not Australian. But they will make your stay memorable for all the right reasons.

Food and wine

Dinner in Appellation restaurant is a highlight. Executive chef Asher Blackford features kitchen garden picks in a five-course degustation menu. Dishes can be matched with local wines and are served with stories of the producers.

Kingfish ceviche, tapioca saltbush and kimchi beignet snacks start the delicious journey – with no cutlery, ‘because it forces people to relax and lose the pretence’, says Blackford.

Our first feast includes beetroot-wrapped sheep feta then quail, lamb rump and ricotta with rhubarb and honeycomb.

Wine pairings offer a glimpse of the 40 grape varieties found in the Barossa. Our selection included: O’Leary Walker Hurtle Sparkling Pinot Noir-Chardonnay NV; Yelland & Papps Single Vineyard Roussanne; Cirillo Estate 1850 Ancestor Vine Grenache Rosato; Izway Mates Aglianico; and David Franz Sticky Botrytis Semillon.

Exclusive experiences

One of the most impressive things about The Louise is its connections. Want to taste 100-year-old tawny from Seppeltsfield – the only winery in the world with premium fortified wines set aside every year since 1878?

How about a private underground cellar tasting at Tscharke or Yalumba – Australia’s oldest family-owned winery? 

You can take the St Hugo & Riedel Glass Masterclass, eat breakfast with kangaroos or make your own perfume at Vasse Virgin. Or you can be chauffeured around with Barossa Bespoke Tours.

All you have to do is ask Louise…

For more information visit www.thelouise.com.au

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The Penfolds Collection 2022 sees two new Bordeaux wines join an increasingly global family, as well as the release price of the Australian company’s flagship Grange topping A$1,000 (£570/$680) for the first time.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the 21 releases in the Penfolds Collection 2022

The Bordeaux wines are the latest international blending ventures for Penfolds, following last year’s release of four California reds. Two of these were the company’s inaugural Wines of the World, uniting Californian and South Australian fruit.

And word has it that the Penfolds Collection 2023 will feature a Chinese-Australian collaboration.

Penfolds’ French connection

The first of the 2019 Bordeaux wines is Penfolds II – a partnership with Dourthe. Another Wine of the World designate, Dourthe provided the Cabernet Sauvignon (59%) and Merlot (12%) from its Château Belgrave and La Garde properties.

Vinified in Bordeaux, these components were then shipped to South Australia in stainless steel tanks, blended with Shiraz from the company’s Barossa Valley vineyards and matured in French and American oak barriques and hogsheads for 18 months.

The Penfolds II name represents the two winemakers, chief winemaker Peter Gago and his counterpart at Dourthe, Frédéric Bonnaffous, ‘coming together to express quality through a harmonious blend of traditional French winemaking techniques and time-honoured Australian winemaking methods’.

The second 2019 Bordeaux wine is the FWT 585 (French Winemaking Trial). It is the first Penfolds wine made from parent company Treasury Wine Estates‘ recently acquired Bordeaux properties in Haut-Médoc: Châteaux Cambon la Pelouse, Belle-Vue and De Gironville.

A blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 13% Petit Verdot, it is Penfolds’ interpretation of a Bordeaux blend, made at Cambon la Pelouse by Penfolds senior winemaker Emma Wood.

And how did Gago – Decanter’s 2021 Hall of Fame recipient – expect the Bordelais to receive these wines? ‘It will definitely get them talking!’ he said in typically playful fashion.

‘Nothing stands still in wine,’ added Gago. ‘It’s very exciting that Penfolds can become part of the French wine conversation.’

‘Just like our California wines…. we have the French sun above and soil beneath, but everything in between is Penfolds!’

Ongoing collaborations and new blends

The Dourthe partnership is an adjunct to the Penfolds Champagne project that began with Thiénot in 2019. ‘The proposition of what could be achieved if we extended this idea to table wine was met with interest in Bordeaux,’ says Gago.

But he added that, in some ways, these international blending ventures are ‘our reaction to global warming affecting grape harvests’. He explained: ‘It plugs into our risk management about how to make the best possible wines from the best possible fruit – wherever that may be.’

The ventures are ongoing collaborations – underlined by the second vintage of three Californian wines in the Penfolds Collection 2022 releases.

These join signature Australian wines including 2018 Grange, 2019 St Henri and 2020 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon and Yattarna Chardonnay.

And like a naughty schoolboy who can’t contain his excitement, Gago concluded the Penfolds Collection 2022 preview in Melbourne on 7 June by revealing his next blending trick. Like the G5 Grange, it’s a multi-vintage super-Chardonnay, comprising five vintages of Yattarna blended together.

Code-named V, the cuvée features 20% each of the 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and currently unreleased 2021 vintages. Gago says this ‘perfect vision’ of Yattarna Chardonnay from across a decade ‘should get everyone out of their comfort zone’.

With a label design still under wraps, the Yattarna blend is expected to be released before the end of 2022. The other Penfolds Collection 2022 wines are available from 4 August.

Penfolds Collection 2022: £1000 Grange and two new Bordeaux wines

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Seppeltsfield proprietor and executive chairman Warren Randall said The Oscar Seppeltsfield luxury hotel and accompanying restaurant will be an icon of global importance for South Australia’s wine industry and will become ‘the most desirable epicurean destination for tourists worldwide’.

Approval for construction of The Oscar Seppeltsfield was granted by the local Light Regional Council on 1 June, after a heated two-year dispute about the development.

The original application to build The Oscar Seppeltsfield was lodged on 16 April 2020, but public consultation with surrounding neighbours in July 2020 led to a legal challenge against the plan. The South Australian Environment, Resources and Development Court dismissed an appeal against the project last year, but a Barossa action group filed a court action to get the project – which had been categorised as ‘tourist accommodation’ – classified under a different category to allow for greater community consultation.

After further consultation, a revised development application was submitted to Light Regional Council in February 2022, with the hotel location moved 10m lower down a gully within the Seppeltsfield vineyard, to be less obtrusive in the landscape. It means that people in the neighbouring village of Greenock will not see the hotel – although it may be seen along parts of the palm-lined Seppeltsfield Road area that passes the main Seppeltsfield Winery entrance.

The hotel site will cover four hectares of Seppeltsfield, with some bush Grenache vines being removed and replanted to replace dead old vines in existing vineyard, but a patch of Palamino Fino will be grubbed and Seppeltsfield will cease its fortified Fino production.

Randall has spearheaded an extravagant revitalisation of the property since 2009, when he purchased a majority shareholding in the historic Seppeltsfield vineyard and winery, established in 1841, and has since spent an estimated $12m on reviving the heritage-listed winery buildings.

However, Randall has embraced a very different vision for the new hotel. Having proudly called Seppeltsfield ‘the jewel of the Barossa’, Randall has moved far from the sturdy bluestone buildings of historic Seppeltsfield to introduce a futuristic flavour to the new hotel, which appears in architectural drawings as a shining metal and glass cylindrical tower that rises sharply from the vineyard.

Its modernist style offers a nod to the radical Frank Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal winery in Elciego, northern Spain, which includes a 43-room five-star hotel and restaurant within its functioning winery buildings.

‘I wanted to create a modern architectural icon with this new hotel,’ Randall said. ‘I wouldn’t be comfortable building a 19th century structure. That would be blatant copying of what had already been done, and I want this new building to be original, dazzling.

‘I really don’t mind that the design will create discussion and dissention. It will bring people from around the world to see it.’

The project is being funded by a group of South Australian businessmen, who predict that the Oscar Seppeltsfield will attract new visitors to the region and bring an additional $A90m in tourism expenditure within its first five years of operation.

All of the hotel’s 71 rooms, suites and penthouses will feature private balconies, while a viewing deck on the top level will provide 360-degree views of the surrounding vineyards (the original intention to feature a skybar was removed from the amended plan). The hotel will also include a wellness day spa, an infinity pool, a world-class restaurant, private dining room and boardroom, and a helipad.

Project director Toby Yap says a tender process has now commenced to choose a luxury hotel operator, with a view to start building the first six-star resort and spa in an Australian wine region before the end of 2022. It is expected to open after two years of construction.

The developers expect The Oscar Seppeltsfield guests will interact with the neighbouring Seppeltsfield precinct, which includes the 1841 Seppeltsfield Cellar Door, the Centennial Cellar (home to the world’s longest continuous fortified vintage wine collection stored in barrel, from 1878), the 1888 Gravity Cellar (which processes 5000 tonnes of grapes each vintage), FINO restaurant, the Jam Factory Craft and Design Studios, Vasse Virgin natural beauty products salon and Fine Art Photography Gallery.

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The 2018 vintage marks the 60th anniversary since Yalumba first produced The Signature. The wine is viewed with special fondness – not only by the Yalumba brethren whose moniker is immortalised on individual vintages, but because it upholds the distinctly Australian blending signature of Cabernet Sauvignon with Shiraz.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of eight vintages of Yalumba’s The Signature back to 1996

Yalumba’s senior red winemaker Kevin Glastonbury is called the ‘custodian’ of The Signature, having made the blend for the past 23 years. But his passion and deep understanding of the uniquely Australian style sees him also responsible for Yalumba’s other Cabernet-Shiraz blends, providing each with a distinct point of difference.

Glastonbury views The Signature as Yalumba’s flagship wine. Not its most expensive or elite wine (that distinction belongs to The Caley Cabernet-Shiraz blend) but the benchmark of high quality against which Yalumba is most commonly measured.

‘It’s an important statement because it represents value and satisfaction,’ Glastonbury explains. ‘The Signature bears an emotional connection to the people it honours, and the generosity of the flavour is all connected to that. It’s a wine that speaks of personality and charm.’

Through the past 60 years, 48 vintages of The Signature (see box below) have been issued to wide acclaim. And while there is vintage variation to consider, it is a wine style driven by a consistent philosophy. Cabernet Sauvignon is always the dominant variety, relaxing into an easy embrace with the Shiraz in a harmony of flavours and smooth, velvety tannins.

It takes a stylistic lead from Bordeaux’s old Claret styles, but has a distinctly Australian stamp, framed with richer, sunnier fruit flavours and a more languid mid-palate expression.

No compromise

With the Cabernet Sauvignon often sourced from other areas of South Australia until the mid 1990s, The Signature is now 100% Barossa fruit. However, this focus has led to gaps in the wine’s lineage, with Yalumba chief winemaker Louisa Rose saying that the disappointing quality of Cabernet from a cooler Barossa vintage in 2017 resulted in The Signature not being made.

‘We have a particular style and history to consider with this wine,’ explains Glastonbury. ‘It’s not something we are prepared to compromise if we don’t have fruit that’s suitable.’

Therefore, the release of the 2018 vintage – with outgoing Yalumba managing director Nick Waterman as its signatory – is being heralded by Yalumba as a special moment.

Glastonbury says The Signature is a wine he’s personally committed to – not only because he adores the style and flavour, but because the wines are intrinsically tied to personalities who have made Yalumba such a distinctive family-owned wine company. This strong attachment is why people working at Yalumba don’t refer to different Signature vintages by their year but by the name of the signatory.

This tradition of paying tribute to Yalumba people, which began with company founder Samuel Smith (the inaugural signatory in 1962), is a distinction Waterman says he will carry with him long after he retires in September. ‘Tasting this wine, it’s an honour I’ll happily raise a glass to,’ he says.

The Yalumba Signatories

1962 Samuel Smith

1963 Sidney Smith

1964 Oliver Jenkinson, Percy Smith

1965 not produced

1966 Alfred Wark, Harold Obst, Harold Yates

1967 Clair Chinner, Rudi Kronberger

1968 Eric McKenzie, Mick Hungerford

1969 not produced

1970 Les Falkenberg, Paddy Fitzgerald

1971 Alf Mader, Bruce Coulter

1973 Wyndham Hill Smith

1972 not produced

1974 Christobel Hill Smith

1975 Walter Smith

1976 Ron Skate, Sidney Hill Smith

1977 Harry Mahlo

1978 Colin Hayes

1979 not produced

1980 not produced

1981 Joe Stevens

1982 not produced

1983 Ross Bradbury

1984 John Gillespie

1985 Dennis Reimann

1986 Helen Hill Smith

1987 Dudley Ward

1988 Colin Gerhardy

1989 Graham McDonough

1990 Peter Wall

1991 Mark Hill Smith

1992 Eddy Waechter

1993 Bill Wilksch

1994 Peter Graue

1995 Yalumba’s People

1996 James Wark

1997 Vittorio di Biase

1998 Ross White

1999 John Heine

2000 Peter Lehmann

2001 Geoff Linton

2002 Rhonda Sexton

2003 Alan Hoey

2004 Brenton Fry, John Auld, Brian Walsh

2005 Jeff Smith, Greg Pullen

2006 Kevin Renshaw, Ralph Dunning

2008 Judy Argent

2007 not produced

2009 Clive Weston

2010 Jane Ferrari

2011 not produced

2012 Robert Hill Smith

2013 Andrew Murphy

2014 Chris Greening

2015 Darrell Kruger

2016 Louisa Rose

2017 not produced

2018 Nick Waterman

The Signature: eight vintages of Yalumba’s benchmark Cabernet-Shiraz blend

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Seventy years ago, Cyril Henschke created Mount Edelstone Shiraz, one of Australia’s first single-vineyard wines. Six years later, in 1958, the fourth-generation winemaker launched Hill of Grace. The now internationally famous wine firmly cemented his family’s – and Eden Valley’s – reputation for exceptional Shiraz.

Continuing the single-vineyard tradition, in 2001 Cyril’s son Stephen and his wife Prue released Hill of Roses Shiraz (a tiny plot of 28-year-old vines within the Hill of Grace vineyard), then The Wheelwright Shiraz in 2015.

To highlight differences in terroir and vine age, the couple are launching all four together for the first time on 4 May.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the 2017 Henschke single-site Shiraz wines and Keyneton Euphonium

They could not have chosen a better vintage than 2017, the third in a row the Henschkes deem ‘exceptional’ (2018 will follow suit). After a wet winter and cool, mild growing season, ‘the wines’ vitality screeched out’, viticulturist Prue enthused during a virtual tasting of the 2017s last week.

Harvesting in mid to late April, a month or so later than the 2016 vintage, ‘pushed maturity right to the edge’, said Stephen. ‘You see almost the purest expression of variety in those places and huge differences between the sites in 2017.’

He explained that the differences are terroir-driven because the vines are cultivated using organic and biodynamic practices (which Prue said benefits aromatic expression and texture) and the wines are made and aged similarly.

Stephen, the winemaker, destems the grapes, ferments them in open vats with heading boards (to keep the cap submerged) and ages the wines for about 18 months in mainly French oak hogsheads, between 16% and 29% new. The degree of new oak broadly reflects the relative warmth of each site, together with vine age.

Vine age, site and spice

The difference between The Wheelwright and the older northern sites at 400m is striking. Planted by Cyril Henschke in 1968 at close to 500m above sea level in Eden Valley’s elevated south, The Wheelwright is medium bodied with red fruits. Some 10km north to Mount Edelstone, planted in 1912 with the least exposed east-facing aspect, the wine shows both red and black fruits. The spectrum is more black and blue fruits another 5km north at Hill of Grace, first planted in 1860, with a warmer westerly orientation. Hill of Roses shares these familial flavours but with different energy and flow.

While a continental climate accounts for the spiciness of Eden Valley Shiraz, Prue believes soil type profoundly impacts the spice profile. Located on blocky clay over schist, The Wheelwright has the most delicate crushed herb and spice accent.

Mount Edelstone is from red-brown earth and gravel subsoil and its spice is more pungent, with bay leaf, pepper and sage notes.

Known for lifted Chinese five spice notes, Hill of Grace (and Hill of Roses) is planted on sandy loam over red clay, rocks and calcium carbonate.

All four wines show exceptional detail and expression, with fine tannins and beautiful balance. They make for fascinating comparisons.

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When Argentina’s Alejandro Bulgheroni came to Australia and purchased a significant Barossa vineyard in 2015, it wasn’t the Shiraz that grabbed his attention. The flagship wine for his Alkina Wine Estate is Grenache.

Grenache is in high demand among leading winemakers in Australia, especially from bush vines dotted through McLaren Vale and the Barossa. These create a spectrum of wines: from intense, concentrated beasts designed for decades of cellaring, to slender, nuanced reds akin to Pinot Noir as well as intriguingly spicy styles designed to drink fresh.

The Barossa and McLaren Vale Grenache revolution has been a long time coming – the oldest vines producing fruit are 174 years old – but excitement is now leaping out of the glass.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 20 exciting Barossa and McLaren Vale Grenache wines

Bulgheroni experienced this excitement after assessing his 43-hectare Alkina Wine Estate at Greenock in the Barossa Valley with winemakers Amelia Nolan, Alberto Antonini and Chilean soil mapping expert Pedro Parra. They identified nine micro-terroir polygons, each just 0.3ha, with significantly different soil profiles. The best of these had old Grenache vines.

The 2018 Polygons (each selling for $A295/£160/$215) have reaped praise and the 2020s will be released in March 2022.

Recognising old-vine Grenache as a rare asset marks a new twist to this grape’s turbulent history in Australia.

Grenache was among the nation’s pioneer vines, grown in abundance from the 1840s as the backbone of fortified wines. However, when tastes shifted to dry table wines during the late 1970s, Grenache was heavily irrigated, over-cropped and largely used as an anonymous filler – a juicy jewel hidden within cheap red wine blends.

Now, thanks to radical changes in both viticulture and winemaking practices, there is much excitement about this grape. Yet it is still not widely grown.

Grenache represents only 1% of Australia’s annual crush and about 2% of new plantings – although valuable pockets of ancient vines have Grenache accounting for more than 6% of the McLaren Vale and Barossa grape harvest. The value of these old vines is escalating, with growers fetching an average of $A1,256 a tonne in 2020 (up from $A575 in 2010).

It therefore pains many that swathes of old Grenache vines were lost after the South Australian government legislated a vine-pull scheme in 1987. The government paid vineyard owners to grub up what they deemed unproductive crops in the wake of a prolonged grape surplus, to free up land for housing. At the time, Grenache grapes were selling for $A190 a tonne.

Nine Popes: Australia’s first icon Grenache

Graeme ‘Charlie’ Melton emerged as one of the heroes who changed the perception of this maligned grape. After leaving his mentor Peter Lehmann to create Charles Melton Wines in 1984, old-vine Grenache became the key to Melton’s signature wine, although he admits it was an accidental discovery.

Having purchased his first vineyard on Krondorf Road near Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, Melton initially picked a block of old bush-vine Grenache as a base wine for sparkling red, but during his third vintage, realised the Grenache parcel represented something exceptional.

‘My next thought was how am I ever going to sell an elite wine with Grenache on the label, so I called it Nine Popes to create a bit of intrigue,’ he explains.

He looked to France’s Rhône Valley for inspiration – specifically the great Grenache-led blends of Châteauneuf‑du-Pape (hence his cheeky play on the wine’s name) – and settled on a blend of up to 68% Grenache with Shiraz and about 5% Mataro (aka Mourvèdre). He built Nine Popes as a sturdy wine to ensure at least two decades of cellaring, and its high fruit perfume and spicy bite saw it quickly become Australia’s first celebrated Grenache-based wine.

Classified as Outstanding in Langton’s Classification of Fine Wines, Charles Melton’s Nine Popes shone a light on a precious Barossa asset of international significance.

Barossa: home of ancient vines

The world’s oldest-producing Grenache vines are on Marco Cirillo’s Nuriootpa vineyard in the Barossa, planted in 1848. ‘These vines aren’t good because they are old. They are old because they are good,’ says Cirillo.

After initially selling his fruit to Rockford Wines, from the 2003 vintage Cirillo began producing his estate 1850 Grenache, featuring only grapes from 4ha of surviving ancient vines. He cellars this dark, intense wine for five years before release: ‘It’s a special wine,’ he says. ‘Consumers deserve to see it at its best.’

To acknowledge specific age identification of the Barossa’s oldest vines and appropriately value the fruit, Yalumba created its own old-vine charter in 2006.

Originally intended to differentiate elite Shiraz parcels, Yalumba found it applied equally to Barossa Grenache. Senior red winemaker Kevin Glastonbury says it helps identify great parcels as soon as they enter the winery, so they can be assessed as potential special releases.

The difficult 2011 vintage proved decisive in changing Yalumba’s approach to Grenache. ‘We picked early to beat disease in that wet, cold vintage, and it came in spicy and tight, which changed everyone’s ideas about what is possible with Grenache,’ says Glastonbury.

‘Extracted, heavily oaked Grenache became a thing of the past. Fresh, lively Grenache is the way forward.’

As a consequence, Yalumba presents an expansive range, highlighting differences between ancient vines (bush vines planted in 1889), to those planted in the late 1940s and late ‘80s, as well as ‘newer’ plantings from 35 years old.

McLaren Vale Grenache champions

In McLaren Vale, about 25% of the region’s old Grenache vines have survived. Some 70ha are 70 years or older, of which 14ha have seen more than a century. There are also 300ha of vines 35 years and older.

D’Arenberg has remained a custodian of Grenache, with the winery’s initial success propelled by 1970s blends of Grenache with Shiraz, originally labelled as ‘burgundy’, but now called d’Arry’s Original.

Winemaker Chester Osborn presses at least 500 tonnes of Grenache each vintage – from d’Arenberg own estate vineyards and scores of independent growers. It plays a part in a dozen d’Arenberg wines, from icon expressions to blends and fortifieds.

‘Grenache shows more terroir characteristics than any other grape I work with,’ Osborn says. ‘To best understand site, geology and vintage character, Grenache reveals it all.’

Stephen Pannell has accelerated this renewed appreciation and respect of Grenache in McLaren Vale. He arrived at Hardys Tintara Winery during the 1990s, eager to produce medium-bodied wines after making Pinot Noir in Burgundy.

He chose to treat Grenache differently, amplifying the perfume and fruit vitality while honouring its rich, deep flavours. These wines have aged elegantly – especially the 1996 Tintara Grenache – but he is now pushing Grenache much further with his own company SC Pannell Wines, which takes fruit from the Old McDonald and Smart vineyards in Clarendon.

Pannell says Grenache is the egalitarian grape. He wants to see more planted as it suits Australia’s warming climate. He also sees great potential for it to be the country’s defining grape – something that truly expresses an Australian style rather than chasing approximations of other established international wines.

A new generation of passionate winemakers are embracing this mantra, pledging their respect and love for Grenache.

Nuance of style

Taras Ochota began sourcing McLaren Vale Grenache in 2008 from a gnarly Blewitt Springs vineyard planted in 1946, to make a lean, taut wine he called Fugazi (in honour of his favourite punk band).

He picked the berries early when acid levels were high and made it like Pinot Noir, amplifying its pretty rose and cherry perfume, lively berry flavours and white pepper spice.

Ochota died in October 2020, but his wife Amber continues the Ochota Barrels label with the assistance of Ochota’s mentor Peter Leske and longtime assistant Louis Schofield.

In McLaren Vale, Yangarra chief winemaker Peter Fraser issues four styles of Grenache. The High Sands single-vineyard expression leads the way with its taut old-vine intensity, while the Ovitelli shows quirky old bush-vine characteristics thanks to a long ferment on skins in a large ceramic egg.

Alex Sherrah captures the nuances of three very different McLaren Vale sites (including Andre Bondar’s Rayner Vineyard) in his lean, drink-now, preservative-free wine, while self-confessed Grenache fanatics Giles Cooke MW and Fergal Tynan MW make Thistledown’s expressive single-vineyard wines Sands of Time, She’s Electric and This Charming Man.

Meanwhile, Charlie O’Brien has taken a step away from his parents’ Kangarilla Road Winery to create his own Silent Noise label, focusing on minimal intervention techniques.

Putting the work in

McLaren Vale viticulturist Toby Bekkers and his winemaker wife Emmanuelle have made Grenache a key feature of their Bekkers wine brand. They are now taking the next step to procure more elite Grenache fruit by reviving an historic but dilapidated vineyard.

Having purchased the 20ha Peake/Gillard Clarendon Vineyard Estate in 2020, first planted on extremely steep hillsides between 1842 and 1848, they are planting new Grenache vines as an important part of its rejuvenation.

‘Grenache has become a real hero of the region,’ says Toby Bekkers. ‘But as a viticulturist, I fear that new plantings will be put in the wrong spots, and that poorly farmed young Grenache will have a detrimental effect in the marketplace.

‘Young Grenache vines can produce marvellous fruit, but it requires a lot of work in the vineyard during their early years to control vigour and canopy. I’m prepared to put that work in because I know how good the results can be.’

Rob Mack and his wife Louise realised this when they started their brand Aphelion in 2014, specifically wanting to focus on Grenache and courting growers in Blewitt Springs to obtain the best fruit.

From the outset they have presented multiple Grenache expressions, employing different winemaking techniques, from McLaren Vale each vintage. The constant in Aphelion’s portfolio is Confluence, which shows off Grenache’s rich savoury mid palate.

Barossa and McLaren Vale Grenache: varied expressions

Michael Twelftree is another Grenache vineyard hunter who knows elite fruit is difficult to find. While his focus is Shiraz at the Barossa-based Two Hands Wines, he also created Twelftree Wines to celebrate Grenache.

He initially released six 2012 single-vineyard Grenaches (four from dry-grown McLaren Vale vineyards, two from Barossa), and now issues between two and five wines a year.

‘Grenache is one of the world’s most planted red grapes, but in Australia we’ve mostly done a horrific job with it,’ says Twelftree, blaming overcropping and over-ripe fruit. ‘I want to do things differently, and have spoken with growers prepared to work with me to get better results.’

Quantities are tiny – how Twelftree likes it. ‘It’s not about how much wine, but how true each expression is to its site. The beauty is in the subtle differences you can taste between them. There’s big talk about natural winemaking, but this is natural vineyard expression.’

For the flip side – same vineyard, different winemakers – explore The Grenache Project undertaken by Artisans of Barossa. Banded together as a marketing collective, this group of eight producers shares a cellar door tasting room and hospitality venue in Tanunda.

In addition to making their own wine, they engage in a joint project. Starting in 2017 with an aim of showing off the versatility of Grenache, members each make a wine with grapes sourced from the same Barossa vineyard.

The 2020 Grenache Project released six diverse wines from Schwarz Wine Co, Spinifex Wines, Purple Hands Wines, John Duval Wines, Sons of Eden and Hobbs of Barossa Ranges – all sourced from the John Vineyard at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley.

‘Grenache is a joy for this very reason,’ says John Duval. ‘It’s so versatile and so expressive.’

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This marks a significant increase on the AU$120,000 (£67,525) procured from the 2019 Barossa Wine Auction, and has provided a great fillip for a region rebounding from tough COVID-19-affected sales and export restrictions in the past year.

The auction is a highlight of the biennial Barossa Vintage Festival, and was conducted on Friday 16 April before a live audience at Chateau Tanunda Winery in South Australia.

The star attraction of the auction – a four-litre Imperial of 2016 Penfolds Grange – sold for AU$50,000 ($28,134) to an Australian consortium of private buyers, but a dearth of bidders for this item saw the price sit below expected peaks.

However, bidders were much more active across most other items in the 29-lot catalogue of special wines offered at the auction – with most items attracting at least 30% more than prices that auctioneers Langton’s had expected.

Some surprise attractions included an Imperial of Standish Wines’ 2004 The Relic Shiraz Viognier selling for AU$6000 (£3,376), and six bottles of Poonawatta Estate’s The 1880 Shiraz (2005-2010 vintages) selling for $2300 (£1,294) – more than 10 times the expected price.

The highest price yet paid for Barossa Grenache was recorded by a six-litre Imperial of Torbreck Wines’ 2010 Les Amis Grenache, selling for AU$6000 (£3,376) – reflecting rising buyer confidence in this style at the highest quality levels.

Other highlights included strong support for Henchke’s new release 2015 Hill of Grace Shiraz (packaged with a bottle of 2015 Hill of Roses Shiraz and 2015 Hill of Peace Semillon), which opened with a starting bid of AU$1900 (£1,069) before quickly rising to AU$3400 (£1,913).

Several specialised auction lots attracted lively bidding, including a set of nine Barossa wines that have attained 100-point scores (led by 1998 Greenock Creek Roennfeldt Road Shiraz and Cabernet) that attracted $8400 (£4,726) – and a set of 12 bottles of Rockford Basket Press shiraz (vintages 2006-2017) for $6500 (£3,657).

COVID-19 attendance limits resulted in a live audience of 190 people joined by 70 online bidders – but now the Barossa Wine Auction 2020 will, for the first time, stage a separate Sydney event (with 30 entirely different auction lots) conducted on Friday 29 April, and an online auction of 58 lots will continue to take bids until Sunday 2 May.

Barossa Grape and Wine Association chief executive James March said prices recorded across this year’s auction ‘served to set a new high benchmark for the Barossa, and underlined buyer confidence in Australian wine in general’.

On Decanter Premium

Henschke 2016 releases – Hill of Grace and more

Penfolds Collection 2020: Including Grange 2016 and £2000 G4

Normally Stephen and Prue Henschke do not release their Hill of Grace Shiraz and Mount Edelstone Shiraz together.

But in the bounteous, sweet blackberry-filled and spice-scented 2016 vintage, the Eden Valley-based family winery is simultaneously launching the 59th and 64th vintages from these iconic single vineyards. As well as the 13th release of Hill of Roses Shiraz, a two-barrel rarity.

Scroll down for Sarah Ahmed’s first taste of the Henschke 2016 releases

Dubbed The Congregation of the Ancients, the Shiraz trio ‘lined up for release beautifully’, explained sixth-generation Justine Henschke. She and the family held a virtual tasting for Decanter ahead of the wines’ global launch on 5 May.

Stephen even took a break from harvest to give the first indications of this year’s crop. ‘2021 is an amazing vintage,’ he enthused. ‘One of the coolest summers for 18 or 19 years, with a mild autumn.’

As with the 2015 vintage, Stephen and Prue classified the 2016 vintage ‘exceptional’. And with Henschke’s focus being single-vineyard wines, the voice of both vintage and site shine in the new releases.

In 2016, the Shiraz is plusher and more velvety, with riper fruit and tannins compared with 2015. Stephen explained that temperatures were a degree warmer and drought conditions over the winter produced lower yields and smaller berries.

With timely bursts of rain that year at veraison and in late January and March, the fruit is also vibrant and incredibly youthful, with tremendous ageing potential.

Trademark elegance

Henschke’s trademark elegance is evident throughout the single-vineyard wines, including the Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon.

‘While Eden Valley is identifiably about Shiraz and Riesling, over 40 years we have proved we can make beautiful Cabernet too,’ said Stephen. It is ‘his career in a bottle’, added Prue.

They coax out elegance too, in the latest release of introductory red Henry’s Seven – a blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro (aka Mourvèdre) from the warm 2019 vintage.

Prue’s sensitive organic and biodynamic cultivation and her husband’s ultra-refined use of oak and extraction stand out prominently in the single-vineyard wines. The differences between the elite Shiraz trio sing out, highlighting Eden Valley’s complex matrix of soils and micro-climates.

It will be fascinating to see if Hill of Grace’s ‘chip off the old block,’ Hill of Roses, is eventually incorporated into the alma mater, like two older Post Office Blocks at the vineyard have been.

‘The expectation is there,’ said Stephen. ‘it is like watching your kids grow up, knowing they will be wonderful and amazing.’

Contact UK importer Liberty Wines for allocations and stockists.

Sarah Ahmed tastes the Henschke 2016 releases

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A long story tracing the history of South Australia’s Barossa region is integral to the success of St Hallett Wines. And formidable people are key to this story – many are legendary characters in the pantheon of Australian wine.

Early St Hallett winemaker Robert O’Callaghan (now of Rockford Winery) saved historic Shiraz vines from being grubbed during the 1970s and made rich wines celebrating their unique qualities. Larger-than-life raconteur and marketeer ‘Big’ Bob McLean sold the merits of these signature Shirazes to the world. Entwined through a legend of long promotional lunches and great merriment, St Hallett fostered a loyal fan club for its wines, led by Old Block Shiraz.

Scroll down for David Sly’s tasting notes and scores on the latest releases from St Hallett Wines

Years have marched on, yet despite several changes in ownership and numerous winemakers, St Hallett has never let go of its history. This stems from the Lindner family’s arrival in the Barossa from Central Europe’s historical Silesia region in 1838. They planted grape vines near Tanunda, before starting their own winery in 1944, enduring turbulent years of struggle and triumph.

New winemaker, new chapter

Now, under owners Accolade Wines (whose vast global business includes other recognisable Australian brands like Hardy’s, Banrock Station and Grant Burge Wines), a new chief winemaker has been introduced to not only continue, but to amplify this legacy of championing Barossa Shiraz.

Helen McCarthy is entirely comfortable with such a task, because she has her own interesting Barossa winemaking story to tell. This is in addition to opening a fresh chapter of the St Hallett tale that involves a broader suite of Shiraz wines, further embracing the influence of Eden Valley vineyards from the elevated, stony ridges that flank the Barossa Valley floor.

Having come previously from Mountadam Vineyards and Thorn-Clark Wines, McCarthy’s focus had long been fixed on Eden Valley fruit, understanding the cool-climate nuances of these grapes.

When she applied for the job of St Hallett senior winemaker and site manager in early 2019, soon after the departure of group chief winemaker Toby Barlow, her skill set provided the perfect fit for Accolade’s renewed vision for St Hallett’s Shiraz output.

Her immediate task was to focus the winemaking to reflect a new marketing slogan for the brand, heralding St Hallett as the ‘Masters of Barossa Shiraz’ – which meant that Riesling was no longer made by St Hallett from the 2020 vintage. An element of Grenache remains through the portfolio – with old-vine Grenache and Grenache rosé, as well as featuring as a component in some blends – but the spotlight has been directed towards a dozen different examples of Shiraz.

Each of these wines has a distinctive sourcing pattern from specific vineyards throughout the Barossa to define a raft of different Shiraz characteristics, which continues to grow with an increasing number of Eden Valley fruit parcels being procured.

Site-specific Barossa Shiraz

‘It’s not all my doing,’ McCarthy insists with a smile. ‘It was already happening before I got here. But I’m certainly giving it a nudge along, looking more specifically at southern Eden Valley fruit parcels that show more cool-climate characteristics.

‘For us to truly present a complete picture of understanding Barossa Shiraz, we need to be doing this – and more – to play around with fresh ideas. I believe there’s a big, complex story to tell about this grape variety, and we’ve only really just scratched the surface in the Barossa.’

McCarthy explains her point by enthusiastically sketching ideas that will push St Hallett’s Shiraz output further – by developing Parish blends that define small, historical Barossa sub-regions, and doing clonal explorations that demonstrate how specific Shiraz clones behave across different sites and soil types. She’s optimistic that wine lovers will support the winery steering the focus on single-vineyard wines into a more nuanced direction.

‘There haven’t been wines of this type from the Barossa, and it’s something we will definitely be looking at in the future,’ she says, noting that such ideas build on a significant suite of Barossa sub-regional wines that previous winemaker Toby Barlow introduced to the market.

‘St Hallett’s long reliance on relationships with many growers and vineyards throughout the Barossa will allow this to happen – and I believe this presents very exciting winemaking opportunities.’

A St Hallett first: Eden Valley Syrah

Pursuing such peaks of excellence adds to McCarthy’s responsibilities that include supervising Grant Burge Wines being made and stored at the St Hallett winery near Tanunda.

Yet within such a busy schedule, she has given specific attention to several new wines that specifically highlight Eden Valley fruit – and stand a significant step apart from the more brawny, big-bodied Shiraz sourced mostly from the northern Barossa that has been St Hallett’s trademark.

Foremost among these more nuanced Shirazes is 2018 Higher Earth Syrah (note, not Shiraz). A new release in 2020, it’s made from 100% Eden Valley grapes – a first for St Hallett. Made before McCarthy arrived at the winery, it’s a style that excites her – showing rich blue fruits, a lick of minerality and a lifted floral bouquet – although she’s now keen to refine the style further, to enhance the elegance and svelte beauty of cool-climate Shiraz.

‘I want this to be a wine that people keep talking about because it doesn’t fit the standard expectation of a St Hallett Shiraz,’ she says. ‘It has already attracted a different type of customer to St Hallett, and I feel that it opens up a lot of possibilities for who this brand can reach.’

Boutique old-vine flagship

A more exclusive new Shiraz aims at an even higher level: Planted 1919 is from Barossa vines at least 100 years old. The first release, from the 2015 vintage, comes from an Eden Valley vineyard usually directed into the Old Block Shiraz blend of northern Barossa and Eden Valley fruit parcels.

By isolating this parcel as a separate wine – with the tiny volume producing just 360 bottles for Australia and 1,200 globally, at a hefty AU$450 (£255) price tag – it presents a new opportunity for St Hallett.

‘It’s very brave to introduce a new flagship wine that pursues a very different direction, but it’s a very exciting signal for the future,’ says McCarthy. It’s stunning – a really interesting example of texture speaking ahead of the fruit, with all the elements seamlessly integrated.’

The wine’s subtlety and evolution in the glass thrills McCarthy, who says future releases of Planted 1919 will most likely feature different source blocks, demanding different examinations and analysis of elite Barossa Shiraz.

‘I feel very fortunate to be presenting such outstanding wines that had been made before I arrived in the winery, but I must say that these wines sing to what I like to do.’

Despite her excitement about these new releases, McCarthy doesn’t want change the style of existing St Hallett wines – particularly the influence of old-vine parcels from across the northern Barossa and Eden Valley that create Old Block Shiraz, and the black-fruited power amplified by American oak that characterises Blackwell Shiraz.

‘There will be an evolution of the portfolio, but within this will remain a respect for the winemaking signatures that have defined St Hallett’s history. We will always allow those very specific wine styles to continue.’

100% Barossa

To help ensure this continuity, McCarthy consults with former chief winemaker Stuart Blackwell, creator of several St Hallett Shiraz styles – including Blackwell Shiraz and Faith Shiraz – and who continues to serve as a brand ambassador.

‘I’ve really benefited from Stuart telling me about the history of the wines, and the knowledge and stories about the winery’s relationships with the various grape growers we work with,’ says McCarthy. ‘It’s all connected into the fabric of how we make these wines. And those common threads remain in place.

‘Stuart tastes the blends with me and tells me what he thinks. It’s nice to have that continuity, because it can be so easy to get too wrapped up in only what you’re thinking.’

The new vision for St Hallett is a considered philosophy. McCarthy says travel restrictions during 2020 presented ample time for everyone involved with the brand to have a serious rethink about the wines, their customers, and how to improve production.

This has led to some new introductions – including large-format oak fermenters, allowing for whole-bunch fermentation of some Shiraz components – and a more polished presentation at the winery’s cellar door, with emphasis on tutored tastings rather than the rustic, informal approach that had long been a part of St Hallett’s personality.

‘Everything we are doing fits St Hallett’s ambition to be a serious Shiraz specialist,’ says McCarthy, who believes change is injecting fresh energy to the brand.

‘It shows that we can breathe new life into a historical brand without damaging any important aspects of its past. Keeping everything 100% Barossa is really important to me, and we’re ready to present an exciting new chapter in the St Hallett story.’

St Hallett Wines: the facts

Founded In 1944 by the Lindner family

Owners Accolade Wines, since 2017

Senior winemaker Helen McCarthy, since 2019

Production 165,000 cases annually.

Barossa Shiraz sources 130 parcels from 30 growers throughout the central Barossa Valley floor, western ridge and northern Barossa (totalling about 2,500 tonnes), as well as from seven growers in Eden Valley (about 300 tonnes)

St Hallett Wines: a timeline

1912 Pop Lindner plants the Old Block vineyard on the fringes of Tanunda in the Barossa

1944 Pop’s son Bill, a trained winemaker, establishes St Hallett Wines in a Tanunda shed, focusing mainly on fortified wines

1970 Bill’s sons Carl and Elmore take charge of the winery

1972 Robert O’Callaghan joins St Hallett as winemaker, remaining until he established his own Rockford Winery from 1982

1980 O’Callaghan makes the first St Hallett Old Block Shiraz

1982 Stuart Blackwell, who first joined St Hallett in 1972, returns as senior winemaker, having spent several years making wines in South Africa and Zimbabwe

1988 Marketing maestro Bob McLean joins, successfully elevating St Hallett Old Block Shiraz from a beloved South Australian treasure to an international wine icon

2000 St Hallett forms a triangular ownership consortium with Tatachilla Wines of McLaren Vale and Hillstowe Wines of the Adelaide Hills, forming the publicly-listed company Banksia Wines.

2002 Major shareholder Lion Nathan brewery buys Banksia Wines

2007 Toby Barlow becomes head winemaker, moving from Lion Nathan’s sibling winery Mitchelton. Barlow focuses on single-vineyard releases to show the personalities of Shiraz from different Barossa sub-regions

2017 Accolade Wines buys St Hallett

2019 Helen McCarthy joins St Hallett as senior winemaker. The brand abandons white wines to market itself as a Barossa Shiraz specialist

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With his thick mop of sandy hair and boyish, gap-toothed grin, it is hard to believe that Robert Hill-Smith – proprietor and chair of Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family-owned winery – celebrates his 70th birthday in 2021.

Scroll down for Sarah Ahmed’s tasting notes and scores on the latest releases from Yalumba

Admired for his leadership and warmth, Hill-Smith – fifth generation of the Barossa-based business – became managing director in 1985.

In 1989 (along with his immediate family) he steered the buy-out of other family shareholders. According to the Wine Industry Directory, Yalumba, founded in 1849, was Australia’s 10th largest wine company by total revenue in 2019.

Yalumba commands great loyalty from staff and growers alike. ‘You really bought into the company,’ says a former employee.

Those who have significantly contributed to Yalumba’s culture and traditions are honoured ‘signatories’ of The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz. Hill-Smith’s father Wyndham (Yalumba’s managing director between 1938 and 1972) launched the wine in 1962.

The signatory for the latest 2016 release is chief winemaker Louisa Rose, who joined Yalumba in 1992 after graduation. The 2015 signatory was Darrell Kruger, vineyard manager for Yalumba’s Barossa properties. He’s been with the company since 1975.

Kruger and other Yalumba ‘VSOPs’ (Very Special Old People, with more than 21 years’ service) have their names inscribed on plaques at the entrance to the winery’s Angaston headquarters, with its iconic clocktower and flag.

Forefront of innovation

With its own nursery since 1975 (supplying vines commercially since 1982), Yalumba has been at the forefront of new clones and varieties. ‘That ability to trial, experiment and philosophise is really liberating,’ says winemaker Rose.

‘I joined Yalumba just as Australian wines were starting to develop a worldwide reputation, so there has always been something for me to do!’ Her work with Viognier in particular has made Yalumba the standard-bearer in Australia.

Following visits in the late ’90s to Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie in the Rhône as well as California, Rose and her team made additional clonal Viognier selections for Yalumba’s nursery to enhance wine flavour, aroma and texture.

To help bring the wines of the world to Australia and Yalumba’s wines to the world, Hill-Smith helped to found wine agency Negociants International in 1985.

It was the same year he became managing director. A difficult one, he explains, ‘because Yalumba was transitioning from being very dependent on fortified wines during the 1970s and ’80s. We had the baggage of history.’

Yalumba sold off its fortified wines and trademarks in 1993, enabling the business to concentrate on table wine production.

Recruited in 1988, winemaker Brian Walsh (Rose’s predecessor) transformed operations. He dispensed with the old-school ‘farmer and chemist’ dichotomy: laboratory-based, white-coated winemakers telling farmers when to pick grapes based purely on sugar readings.

Soon, winemakers were among the vines themselves, tasting berries for phenolic ripeness. This produced a winemaking team ‘linked at the hip with the vineyard’, says Hill-Smith.

Centred on tradition

Today Yalumba (meaning ‘the land all around’) produces about 50 traditional and innovative table wines, ranging from the popular, everyday Y Series label, to its aspirational Rare and Fine range. There are also 11 sister-labels (see box below).

‘Yalumba is defined by the classics, centred on tradition, heritage and the Barossa,’ says Jessica Hill-Smith, Hill-Smith’s eldest daughter and the great-great-great-granddaughter of Yalumba founder Samuel Smith.

She is the latest family member to join the Yalumba fold, becoming a brand manager in 2019.

While The Virgilius Viognier is Yalumba’s flagship white, the portfolio is dominated by Shiraz, the Barossa’s emblematic variety, alongside Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz blends – a uniquely Australian tradition.

Yalumba boasts an extensive network of growers (including ‘VSOGs’ – Very Special Old Growers – whose families have supplied Yalumba with grapes for more than 25 years.

Rattling off a list of families, vineyards and sub-regions, senior red winemaker Kevin Glastonbury (a newly minted VSOP, having joined Yalumba in 1999) confirms 10 sites are ‘leading contenders’ for The Signature every year.

Focus on terroir

Yalumba has produced a single-site Coonawarra Cabernet (The Menzies) since 1986, but the Barossa single-site range came later, in 2005.

Hill-Smith is keen to articulate site and sub-regional variation – ‘to tell the story about the differences at our back door’.

‘Eden Valley’s high-toned spice and aromatic expression; the brilliance of colour from Lyndoch’s foothills at the Barossa’s southern extremity; the stewier and darker Shiraz from Light Pass; and full-bodied but high-toned wines from the northwest’s heavier clay ironstone and terra rossa soils.’

Hill-Smith says this focus on terroir reflects a generation of growers who ‘really respect the land and its points of difference a hell of a lot more than previous generations’.

Yalumba has also snapped up ‘viticultural jewels’ like the Tri-Centenary Grenache vineyard which Hill-Smith feared ‘could have been ripped up’.

Daughter Jessica confirms that the recognition, preservation and promotion of old vines was the motive behind the Yalumba Old Vine Charter, which was subsequently adopted by the Barossa Grape & Wine Association.

A host of firsts

Similarly ahead of the game, in 2005 Yalumba was the first Australian company to be recognised for leadership in greenhouse gas management by the Australian Greenhouse Office.

Spearheaded by Yalumba’s senior environmental manager Dr Cecil Camilleri in the 1990s – long before sustainability became a buzzword – the company’s Vitis programme introduced the framework to analyse, review and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across viticulture, production, packaging and market distribution.

Yalumba also made its first certified organic wines in 2005 and, in 2016, installed Australia’s largest winery solar panelling.

A shift towards minimal winemaking has gone hand-in-hand with giving greater expression to vineyard, variety and vintage.

The fine-tuning of barrels (made at Yalumba’s cooperage since the end of the 19th century) was evident when tasting the 2008 and 2015 Octavius, with Hill-Smith last year.

The company’s flagship Shiraz – once called ‘Oaktavius’ – used to be aged mostly in new American oak octaves (90-litre barrels).

Today oak is the frame, not the picture. ‘With healthy, perfectly ripe fruit you are not using anything as a crutch,’ says Hill-Smith. Recent vintages of Octavius show ‘energy, vibrancy and seamless complexity of layers; more lift and spice’.

Neither fined nor filtered since 2011, Yalumba’s range is 100% vegan. Rose says this ‘brings a bit of edge and natural phenolics’ to balance the wine and enhance food-friendliness.

Challenging perceptions

In 2017 Hill-Smith launched the luxury icon Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz blend The Caley. At a time when Australians were emerging from a period of ‘cultural cringe’, he says it aimed to challenge perceptions that ’we are not yet seen as a country to belong to a club of elite wines’.

Though ageworthy, also being broachable on release has been a double-edged sword for Australian fine wine. It is certainly a hallmark of Yalumba’s top wines, whose alluring primary fruit can make them difficult to resist.

At its London launch, The Caley 2012 was presented alongside tertiary delights from the Yalumba cellar. There were reds from 1974, 1961 and 1959 and a 1908 fortified Muscadelle.

The company is building a museum-release programme to emphasise the ageability of its top wines – and preserve us from the temptation of infanticide.

The past year has been a bruising one for the Australian wine industry. First drought, then bush fires, the global pandemic and now swingeing tariffs in China, its biggest market.

‘Every generation has encountered challenges and had to innovate and fight to stay alive,’ says Jessica Hill-Smith.

‘The fact that our family has held on, resisting the temptation to hand over the keys speaks to a sense of responsibility – that we are just custodians for future generations. Yalumba is our home and we fight for it.’

Yalumba: a timeline

1849 Samuel Smith acquires and plants an Angaston property, calling it Yalumba; first wines produced in 1853

1908 Yalumba clocktower constructed

1962 First vintage of The Signature, dedicated to Samuel Smith

1975 Yalumba vine nursery established

1985 Robert Hill-Smith becomes managing director, introducing premium wines The Menzies (1986) and The Octavius (1988)

1989 Robert Hill-Smith and immediate family buy out other family shareholders; premium focus continues with The Virgilius (1998) and The Reserve (1990)

1990s Vitis programme formalises sustainability initiatives at estate and grower vineyards

2006 First certified organic releases of Shiraz and Viognier

2011 Range becomes 100% vegan

2012 First vintage of luxury icon red blend The Caley

2016 Australia’s largest winery solar panelling installed

Yalumba: the facts

Owners Hill-Smith family

Winery Angaston, Barossa Valley

Grape crush 8,000-10,000 tonnes/year (60% from estate grapes)

Annual production 500,000 cases

Vineyard sources Barossa Valley: 100ha estate fruit, 162ha grower fruit; Eden Valley: 35ha estate fruit, 67ha grower fruit; Coonawarra: 40ha estate fruit

Sister-brands Oxford Landing, Jansz, Pewsey Vale, Hill-Smith Estate, Dalrymple, Heggies, Running with Bulls, Smith & Hooper, Ringbolt, Winesmiths & Nautilus Estate (New Zealand)

Yalumba: Sarah Ahmed tastes the latest releases

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Hentley Farm: producer profile

The Standish Wine Co: producer profile

Grant Burge Wines: producer profile

After a decade of ageing, many of the best 2010 wines are only just hitting their stride now, and plenty of these are also expected to keep much further into the 21st century.

While 2020 may be a year many of us don’t want to dwell upon, perhaps opening a ‘special wine’ that has been maturing in the cellar can bring a moment of lightness.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a 2010 vintage nestled in your collection, then you may know it was a strong year for several red wine regions, in particular.

Wineries in Napa Valley, the Rhône, Rioja, Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino and Barossa Valley provided just some of the highlights.

In Bordeaux, the 2010 wines ‘are some of the best Bordeaux has ever produced‘, said Jane Anson in her recent review of the vintage a decade out from harvest.

Of more than 50 wines she tasted, we’ve picked out below some of the wines entering their drinking windows, albeit the best Bordeaux 2010 wines would also benefit from more ageing. The First Growths, for example, ‘are nowhere near ready’, said Anson.

In Champagne, 2010 was a ‘challenging’ vintage, according to Simon Field MW. Top winemakers can often shine in such moments, and Field praised the ‘incredible skill brought to bear’ in the making of Dom Pérignon 2010, released this year.

The 30 2010 wines below feature bottlings from around the world and have been rated by our experts.

Thirty great 2010 wines: A decade on

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Jane Anson’s top fine wines of 2020

Best Champagnes tasted in 2020

No expense has been spared. Keith Hentschke had very specific intentions when he decided to create his own wine brand. Its focus would be big-framed Barossa Shiraz from an ideally suited site, to best express the terroir that has made this South Australian region famous.

So, from the ground up, he developed Hentley Farm vineyard, winery and restaurant in the western Barossa. His ambition, from its outset, was to achieve iconic status.

Scroll down for David Sly’s tasting notes and scores on the latest releases from Hentley Farm

Hentschke (a different spelling to the Henschke family, makers of Hill of Grace) knew precisely what he wanted. Having graduated with distinction in agricultural science from South Australia’s reputed Roseworthy College (later adding an MBA), and then having a diverse wine career – from production executive at Orlando Wyndham (home of Jacob’s Creek) to managing vineyard management giant Fabal – Hentschke had the smarts and local knowledge to search prudently.

He studied the Barossa region, using 1950s soil maps as a reference guide, to identify ideal sites for Shiraz that had been overlooked.

Hentschke found exactly what he wanted in 1997 by the banks of Greenock Creek: a forgotten mixed farm with red clay and loam soils atop broken limestone that elevated sharply from both sides of the creek bed.

He first dug 40 soil pits across the property and found unusual diversity of soil makeups, with seams of bluestone and ironstone. He then started a busy six-year planting program, with different clonal selections chosen to best suit specific locations.

Elevation differences across the property had created surprising microclimate pockets, and such extreme diversity provided an opportunity to plan a meticulous vineyard layout. He divided the site into nine blocks, and then further divided them into collections of rows to identify separate fruit characteristics.

Luxury Shiraz

The vines established quickly and showed exceptional fruit in only a few years, which Hentschke reflected in his marketing of the wines. He firmly fixed his gaze on premium quality when he released the first Hentley Farm wines in 2002, immediately pricing his best Shiraz as a luxury item.

‘At the time, the prestigious St Hallett Old Block Shiraz was $A45/£24/$32 a bottle and we came out with a $A60/£32/$43 Shiraz,’ explains Hentschke.

‘I knew from experience that it was very hard to elevate a brand once people identified it at a certain price point, so I took the risk of shooting high from the outset.’

This initial star performer was The Beast: 80 cases of robust, raw-boned Shiraz that found an immediate fan club.

The Hentley Farm personality came into sharper focus a few years later when he released The Beauty – a more fragrant, silken-bodied, blue-fruited Shiraz. Purposely designed as a counterpoint to The Beast, it showed the extraordinarily differences between fruit sourced from blocks that face each other across a shallow gully.

The swift success of both wines vindicated Hentschke’s belief that this site was something special.

Three years later, he identified an exceptional neighbouring 6.5ha vineyard, purchased it in 2004, and created an icon wine with Shiraz from a 1.5ha portion. He called it Clos Otto, acknowledging the previous owner’s christian name, and marketed it at an even higher price (the current 2017 Clos Otto is $A210/£113/$152 a bottle).

This release introduced a different type of site-specific wine in Australia, where single-vineyard releases tend to stand as comparisons of grape characteristics from different subregions.

Magical terroir

Hentley Farm’s single-site wines took a more personal view, highlighting significant differences between blocks within its own compact 48ha estate.

It became a very specific conversation about changes in soil depth and structure, of the amount of sunlight hitting fruit, and – what Hentley Farm head winemaker Andrew Quin determines as this site’s magical ingredient – unusually soft and supple tannins that pull the big, powerful fruit flavours into balance.

‘When we bought the block from Otto, we had heard rumours that it was a great site, but the fruit tended to be blended away by whoever previously bought it,’ says Hentschke.

‘When we finally picked the fruit and examined it as a separate parcel, we were intrigued that it presented such rich flavours framed by an earthiness and soft, silky tannins.’

Hentschke says it provided a mouthfeel, taste and finesse quite different to its Barossa neighbours, and definitely a stride apart from Henley Farm’s Beast block situated directly beside it, on the same east-facing slope.

Reading this location to get an accurate terroir representation became a serious focus of attention for Quin, who was aged only 29 when he arrived at Hentley Farm as head winemaker in 2009.

‘It was a big challenge initially,’ says Quin. ‘We had to learn the quirks and understand the nuances of the entire vineyard before we could confidently tell different stories about different sites and how they reacted to different vintages.’

Initially, he approached this task with great caution. ‘For the first five years, I kept all 60 fruit components separate as they maturated, right up until final blending in the weeks before bottling. I didn’t yet know this vineyard, so I wanted to give every component the opportunity to shine – and some of them surprised me.’

Single-vineyard specialisation

Now, Quin is confident enough to combine key components together early and return them to barrel, so they can mature as blended wines for another year. He says this makes the finished wine more cohesive, integrating the fruit more harmoniously with oak.

‘It’s more balanced, more complete,’ he says. ‘Coming from this part of the western Barossa, the wines are always going to be big, but we want freshness and vibrancy as well. The wines certainly shouldn’t look disjointed when they are young.’

Quin’s role in steering the direction of these wines is significant. His choice to pick fruit earlier – and his fastidious new oak barrel selection – has allowed the personalities of different Hentley Farm Shiraz styles to shine.

This has led to more single-vineyard specialisation with the introduction of The Creation Shiraz (a different single-block Shiraz expression issued each year, since 2007) and H Block Shiraz Cabernet (from part of the Clos Otto vineyard).

These wines now have their own specific story, and Quin says it’s his job as winemaker to remain true to that history.

‘To me, this is a terroir story that uses winemaking to highlight the differences in our blocks. My view is that the romance is in the story, and you have to tell the story in the glass.’

It reinforces Hentley Farm’s confidence in making big wines – especially in an era when many customers and critics are instead heralding wines of more modest weight and structure.

‘By making site-specific wines, we don’t concern ourselves with trends,’ says Quin. ‘If you are going to follow trends, you are always going to be behind the trends.’

Investing in success

So, while Hentley Farm boldly stands apart from the pack, Hentschke has been careful to read shifts in the global wine market. In 2008, the company’s focus was on export, with 70% of production heading to a wildly enthusiast US market, along with strong UK purchases and growing Chinese demand.

When the Global Financial Crisis bit, Hentschke grew nervous about US orders, and focused harder on Australia, which now accounts for 70% of Hentley Farm sales. ‘

‘Things that are easy are never going to last forever,’ he says. ‘We needed to understand who are our loyal customers – the ones who collect and drink these wines in their prime, who know our story and respond to our authenticity.’

Hentschke acknowledges that the majority of Hentley Farm customers have an Australian wine bias – so is it his ambition for his icon wines to scale the top tier of the world wine stage?

He takes his time before answering. ‘It would certainly tick a significant box to be viewed in the top pack of the wine world, but I can’t control such decisions.’

Hentschke has never baulked at investing big to get the biggest results, but he estimates vineyard costs are up 50% from 10 years ago. However, the chutzpah of his big venture paid off when James Halliday’s Wine Companion awarded Hentley Farm its Australian Winery of the Year in 2015.

Two decades after creating Hentley Farm, Hentschke admits that the wine world wondered at his audacity to immediately apply prestige prices to his wines, but he was determined to elevate Hentley Farm far beyond ordinary commodity wine.

‘I had no interest in making something boring. Like any artist, I want to create something exciting.’

Hentley Farm: the facts

Owners Keith and Alison Hentschke, established in 1997

Chief winemaker Andrew Quin

Production 20,000 cases annually

Vineyards 38ha

Hentley Farm: a timeline

1997 Keith and Alison Hentschke buy a farm in the Barossa’s Seppeltsfield region to create a new premium vineyard. Extensive planting begins

2002 First wines released

2004 Estate vineyards expand to 38ha after purchase of neighbouring Clos Otto vineyard

2007 The first Creation parcel of Shiraz goes into barrel for three years, released in 2010

2008 Andrew Quin joins as head winemaker

2010 A new winery opens; wines made on site for the first time

2012 Hentley Farm Restaurant opens, with head chef Lachlan Colwill presenting degustation fine-dining, judged among Australia’s elite winery dining experiences

2015 Leading Australian critic James Halliday awards Hentley Farm his Winery of the Year

2016 The winery introduces its own bottling line. A new barrel shed ensures controlled-temperature storage

Hentley Farm: David Sly tastes the latest releases

The vintages of the wines recommended are not yet in the UK. For allocations and estimated prices, contact importer Carson Wines (www.carsonwines.com/)

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Henschke releases 2015 Hill of Grace

Pruning is Dan Standish’s favourite part of the winemaking cycle. Rigorous control of bud numbers and yields sets the tone for this Barossa Shiraz specialist, whose ‘off-cuts’ produce Fortnum & Mason’s Barossa Valley Shiraz (£15.50).

With exacting standards for his The Standish Wine Co label, he never uses more than 30% of the barrels, ‘guaranteeing that only the best of the best fruit ends up in the bottle’. So he must have been particularly frustrated that his average yields were down by 55% in 2019 and 70% in 2020. With minuscule allocations in the pipeline, it’s a good time to take a look at Standish’s 2017 and 2018 releases.

Preferring to court growers, not the press (whom Standish has ‘pretty much spent the last 20 years avoiding’), information about The Standish Wine Co is thin on the ground for a producer of his ilk. We met in 2004 at Barossa winery Torbreck, where Standish worked at the time but, until now, we had never discussed his own project.

Standish established his eponymous company in 1999, the same year he joined Torbreck, and just two years after graduating in chemical engineering. Standish is a sixth- generation Barossan and, at age six, learned to prune vines at his grandfather’s knee. He has taught himself winemaking ‘hands-on’ too – as well as wine appreciation (though he credits his wife Nicole, Australia’s Sommelier of the Year 2001, with having the better palate).

The Standish Wine Co: the facts

Owners Dan & Nicole Standish

Founded 1999

Winery location Light Pass, Barossa Valley

Annual production 12,000-28,000 bottles

Vineyard sources 12 Barossa vineyards totalling 42ha, of which 2ha (in Light Pass) is estate-owned

Vine age Planted between 1858 and 2002

Wines The Standish (introduced 1999), The Relic (2001), Borne Bollène (2007), Andelmonde (2007), The Schubert Theorem (2009), Lamella (2015)

Inspired by the greats

Following Dave Powell’s advice (his then boss at Torbreck) ‘to drink the world’s best wines, otherwise how do you know what great wine is’, for five years in a row, starting in 2000, he made a pilgrimage to the Rhône valley in France. He visited the luminaries who ‘really stood out, as their wines show power and grace’, including Clape (‘three visits, tasting with three generations of the family – pretty cool!’), Thierry Allemand, Noël Verset, Gonon, Jamet, Jasmin and Rostaing.

Vividly recalling the impact of tasting Domaine Rostaing’s Côte Blonde, Côte-Rôtie 1998, he enthuses: ‘It blew me away that a single wine could show such power and richness at the same time as intricate purity and elegance.’ Qualities which today define The Standish Wine Co’s Shirazes, especially the 2018s, which have exceptional fruit power, balance and detail, whether from old or relatively young vines.

Rigour in the vineyard

For Standish, ‘soil, site, clone, aspect and, most importantly, yield are equally as important, if not more so, than vine age’. With young vines he aims for yields of 10hl/ha-20hl/ha, and since acquiring the Light Pass vineyard eight years ago yields have plummeted from 55hl/ha to just 12hl/ha. Prune well, he says, and ‘half the winemaking is already done in the vineyard’.

Observing that his vineyards are often the last to be pruned, he explains: ‘I wait until the end of winter to assess how much seasonal rain we receive, then prune accordingly. If we have a dry winter or (god forbid, like last year) two very dry winters in a row, the vine [only] requires a fraction of the buds to push out its fruit bearing arms.’

Limiting bud numbers, he adds, also ensures berries are small yet regular in size, helping attain ‘perfect tannin ripeness’ from a balance of ripe seeds, lignified stalks and mature skin phenolics. Given leaves are solar panels, with a higher leaf-to-berry ratio, lower yields also advance phenolic ripeness, helping grapes retain higher and more balanced natural acidity.

His pursuit of perfection does not come at the cost of character since, says Standish, his goal was always to shine the light on different terroirs. While he was devastated when his parents sold the family vineyard Vine Vale in 2005 (it produced The Standish from 1999 to 2009), he admits ‘it was a blessing in disguise not to have all your eggs in the one basket’.

Prompted to seek out fresh vineyard sources, Standish now works with 12 ungrafted, organically cultivated vineyards (one certified biodynamic), selected for their exceptional potential, but also because each was ‘profound and distinct enough from my other parcels’. But that does not mean they necessarily make the cut for The Standish Wine Co label. Standish made only four single-site Shirazes in 2017 and five in 2018.

Providing an insight into his ultra-selective approach, he tells me it took him from 2001 (when he first started working with the vineyard) until 2009 to produce The Schubert Theorem, because ‘it took me this long to learn the intricacies and attributes of each microsection of the vineyard and how they supported each other’.

For The Relic, from Krondorf, where Shiraz ‘tends to be very aggressively tannic’, he asked the Hongell family to plant a single row of Viognier alongside the Shiraz. Handpicked together and co-fermented, he says ‘it not only adds heady aromatics to the mix, but also softens the otherwise firm tannins’.

As hands-on as he is in the vineyard, Standish is hands-off in the winery. All the wines are foot-trodden, basket-pressed, naturally fermented and bottled unfiltered and unfined. His ruthless declassification of barrels is an important element of his winemaking: ‘It took me many years to work out that the best wine is not necessarily the best six barrels, but maybe the best four plus the sixth and eighth best, as these latter components add complexity and bring out ethereal characters from the other barrels.’

Dissatisfied with fruit quality in 2000 and 2011, he released no wines whatsoever. But when the quality is there, he lets it shine. With their charismatic expression of fruit, there can be little doubt about his wines’ Barossa provenance. They are Shiraz, not Syrah, but with the power and grace that drew him to the northern Rhône.

The Standish Wine Co: a timeline

1994-1997 Dan Standish studies chemical engineering at University of Adelaide

1998 Does his first harvest at Wakefield Wines, Clare Valley

1999 Founds The Standish Wine Co, producing The Standish Shiraz from his parents’ 1912-planted Vine Vale vineyard. Completes his first of seven vintages at Torbreck Wines and also works a vintage at Paradise Ridge in Sonoma, California

2000 Makes his first trip to the Rhône Valley

2001 Works a vintage at Bodegas Muga in Rioja, Spain

2005 Works his last vintage at Torbreck and, following parents’ vineyard sale, starts looking for other vineyard sources

2005-2006 Works on Ernie Singer’s Koshu Project in Yamanashi, Japan

2008 Makes El Standito Proyecto garage wine, in Yecla, southeast Spain

2012 Acquires winery and vineyard in Light Pass, Barossa Valley, South Australia

2018 The Standish Shiraz enters Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine VII (‘Excellent’ category)

Fine adjustments

Attuned to vineyard and vintage, in the winery Standish uses a range of fermenters and barrel formats. The open fermenters can be sealed for pre-fermentation cold soaks, carbonic maceration and post-ferment maceration. He has also used Nomblot concrete eggs since 2009, ‘because the wine is continuously being turned over the lees, keeping it fresh and vibrant’.

With sympathetic élevage – a process he explored at Bodegas Muga in Rioja, working ‘intimately’ with the reservas – wines typically spend 18-24 months in barrel on lees, with 20%-25% new French oak for pressings components. Standish feels this better integrates oak and fruit tannins (he ferments with varying degrees of whole clusters).

In 2017 and 2018, subtle tweaks in the winemaking reflect two excellent, but contrasting vintages. In 2017, the grapes ripened more slowly due to high levels of soil moisture and cooler nights from late March, so Standish used fewer whole clusters, because there were more green, non-lignified stalks at harvest. The Lamella cuvée is made using high-elevation Eden Valley fruit, so always has the highest proportion of whole-bunch components, but in 2017 only 80% was included compared with 100% in 2018.

Overall, the 2017 Standish Shirazes seem firmer, the freshness and tannins a touch more pronounced, the fruit intense but tightly wound and, correspondingly, the spice and dried herbs dialled up a notch. In 2018, more concentrated, exuberant, typically darker fruit reflects a classically warm, dry year. Especially in the Barossa Valley, which experienced significantly less rainfall and warmer than average overnight temperatures in February.

But the 2018s are beautifully balanced too, with a ripe but powerful tannin structure, terrific buoyancy to the fruit and a tell-tale vineyard thumbprint that distinguishes the range. As Standish points out: ‘It’s relatively simple in the Barossa to make big, powerful Shiraz – but to bring out elegance, suppleness and delicacy is much more finicky.’

Standish’s ruthless focus on perfection has seen his Shiraz wines join the cream of Australia’s crop. The wines come at a price, but they compare favourably with the country’s other leading names and, compellingly, take you on a unique journey across the Barossa. Teasing out the finicky points of difference is a major draw.

The Standish experience: Ahmed’s pick

Five years have passed since Grant Burge sold his Barossa winery and brand, yet the current release of elite wines that carry his name has never looked stronger.

The crucial link in this continuing story is chief winemaker Craig Stansborough, who joined Grant Burge Wines in 1993 and has remained the driver of its wine style since 2006. His passion for the brand, and respect for the fruit-forward style that has made it globally popular, is unwavering.

Scroll down for David Sly’s tasting notes and scores on the latest releases from Grant Burge Wines

While the brand is now part of the vast Accolade Wines stable (whose global business includes other recognisable Australian brands like Hardy’s, Banrock Station and St Hallett) Stansborough has been trusted to keep producing wines that have come to define the southern Barossa region.

His reservoir of vineyard and vintage knowledge is why the brand’s story and popularity has not been disrupted since the winery sale introduced a new ownership and management structure.

The initial transition wasn’t easy. Ownership handover occurred at the start of the 2015 vintage; Stansborough was tasked with splitting up a loyal team. He had to remove the viticulture, marketing and sales departments that were now duplicated within the larger Accolade corporate structure.

These redundancies still don’t sit easily with Stansborough, though he says it highlighted to the remaining staff that they carried the legacy of this formidable 32-year-old wine label.

‘We realised it was up to us, and we took more ownership of the brand than ever before,’ says Stansborough. ‘I’d worked too hard and for too long on this brand to see it all disappear. I knew then I wasn’t just a winemaker working for a company but a custodian. It’s my job to respect this brand’s history and pass it on.’

Maintaining consistency

Stansborough insists the winery’s transition to new owners hasn’t been too difficult, mainly because he has retained familiar vineyards to work with. As part of the company sale conditions, Grant Burge remains the owner of many crucial vineyard sources, but is contracted for at least a decade to continue selling fruit to Accolade for Grant Burge Wines.

To bolster this resource, Accolade has also bought several Barossa properties to amass 130ha of its own vineyards and sourced new blocks from established Barossa grapegrowers. This provides Stansborough with fruit that is mostly clustered in the southern Barossa region, around the town of Lyndoch, but also from some high-elevation vineyards in Eden Valley.

‘Our fruit supply has remained consistent,’ says Stansborough. ‘Accolade was specifically interested in having a Barossa winery with a premium focus, and it didn’t want to interfere with a brand and a style that has established a very strong, supportive audience.’

It still came as a surprise when Grant Burge sold his winery, having shown grit and determination to build it from scratch in 1988. Using resources from the 1986 sale of Krondorf winery (which Burge co-owned with Ian Wilson) to Mildara Blass, Burge steadily grew his production to become one of Australia’s largest mid-sized wineries, selling up to 400,000 cases annually around the world.

However, this placed him in a difficult bind, needing to compete with multinationals on price and volume for market share. Margins squeezed tighter as growth continued, yet several times Burge vehemently announced via the media that his business was not for sale – most notably in 2004, after drinks giant Allied Domecq had failed to buy Peter Lehmann Wines and was sniffing around for another Barossa opportunity.

Vineyard assets

Burge’s great asset was more than 350ha of prime Barossa vineyards, making him the region’s largest private vineyard owner at that time, and those vineyards came to define a wine style that made Grant Burge Wines distinctive among the Barossa output.

When the sale occurred – a sign that operating costs for a winery of this size had proved overwhelming for a sole owner – it was the vineyards that became a primary consideration.

Accolade had made a strategic decision to acquire a Barossa brand, but it needed the right vineyards to maintain the integrity and personality of Grant Burge Wines. A deal was struck to appease both Burge and Accolade, and the effort to capture southern Barossa vineyard expression remains central to what Grant Burge Wines realises in the glass.

Reading these vineyards accurately has been instrumental in steady improvement of the wines, says Stansborough. This is aided by the introduction of Accolade’s larger vineyard management team led by viticulturist Rodney Birchmore. Ensuring better soil health, vine health and different pruning and canopy management regimes have all had a bearing on an elevated quality of fruit that arrives in the winery.

‘In this southern area, the climate isn’t as harsh as other parts of the Barossa,’ explains Stansborough. ‘It has higher rainfall, resulting in less stressed vines and more balanced canopies. The soils are generally deep red clay and loam, rich in nutrients, with ideal water-holding capacity. From this, we get bright red berry fruit instead of big plummy ripe characters. That’s the essence of what these wines need to capture.’

Trials and adjustments

Recent vintage releases have also shown that significant adjustments are being made in the winery, stemming from Stansborough’s modest but relentless pursuit of trials to experiment with his countless ideas – including many things that don’t end up becoming part of Grant Burge Wine releases.

Whole-bunch and wild-yeast ferments, adding stalks, oxidative handling, extended carbonic maceration and lees stirring – Stansborough is experimenting with the whole range of tricks currently being employed by more artisanal winemakers. Yet within his myriad trial batches, a surprising amount of radical ideas still find their way into Grant Burge Wines.

He points to notable small-batch releases, like The Natural 2010, using whole-bunch ferments and Shiraz from the famous Filsell vineyard. Most of these 1,000-litre trials never get released, but many have exerted an influence on modifying the Grant Burge house style through incremental change.

‘We’ve got more scope to do this than small wineries, we just don’t shout about it,’ says Stansborough. ‘We just get on with analysing the test results and then making our adjustments. It may only be 0.25% added to the blend, but it makes a difference to the wines’ structure.

‘It all helps us make a better wine without abandoning everything that has come before it,’ he adds. ‘Consumers have loved Grant Burge Wines through a long 30-year journey, and I can’t ignore that. Consumers don’t lie. They tell us what they want through what they buy.’

Heritage and legacy

The resulting portfolio remains true to Grant Burge Wines’ own heritage rather than chasing contemporary fashion. These approachable wines are plush and built around rich fruit and soft tannins; broad-framed and certainly generous in flavour, but always in balance.

Stansborough says recent vintages look especially strong, identifying the 2016 and 2018 reds as some of the best he’s produced.

He adds that careful development and improvement is a process that won’t stop. ‘We learn something every year, especially with soil health and vine health. The wine styles never stand absolutely still.’

Stansborough’s other long-term task is to develop a succession plan for who will eventually follow him as chief winemaker. He wants to ensure that the history and legacy of Grant Burge Wines is respected and maintained. ‘The next stage of my winemaking journey is identifying who the right people are to embrace this important historical role.’

A significant part of the legacy is continuing to fly a flag for the idiosyncratic style of southern Barossa wines. ‘A lot of big wine companies shout about the merits of northern Barossa, because that’s where they are based. But we believe the southern Barossa has a story worth telling – and we’ll keep telling it. It’s in this company’s DNA.’

Grant Burge Wines: a timeline

1865 Meshach Burge makes his first wines in the Barossa. His father, John Burge, emigrated with his family to South Australia from Wiltshire, England, in 1855

1951 Grant Burge, fifth-generation Barossa winemaker, is born

1977 26-year-old Grant Burge creates the successful Krondorf Winery with Ian Wilson. The wine brand is sold to Mildara Blass in 1986, but Burge buys many of the best Krondorf vineyards

1988 Grant Burge Wines is launched in the Barossa and immediately establishes international export markets

1993 The first super-premium wine, the 1988 Meshach Barossa Shiraz, launches after five years’ maturation in American oak barrels

1999 Grant Burge Wines buys back Krondorf Winery, refurbishing and rebranding it as Meshach Cellar, the Barossa tasting room

1999 Grant Burge buys 160ha former sheep station Corryton Park, in the southern Eden Valley. He plants 45ha to produce cool-climate Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot

2006 Craig Stansborough is promoted to chief winemaker, having initially joined the company as cellar door manager in 1993

2015 Grant Burge Wines is purchased by Accolade Wines

Grant Burge Wines: the facts

Founded 1988

Owner Accolade Wines, purchased from founding proprietor Grant Burge in February 2015

Chief winemaker Craig Stansborough, since 2006

Annual production 400,000 cases

Vineyards 130ha, including access to 33ha of old vines planted between 1886 and the early 1900s. Fruit is sourced from mostly southern Barossa vineyards, centralised around Lyndoch: Corryton Park, Summers, Lily Farm, Grocke Farm, Colin Burge, Haese, The Holy Trinity, Daly Road, Wilsford, Hillcot, Filsell, Cameron Vale, Ashlyn, Miamba, The Chaff Mill, Berghofer and Wohlstadt

Grant Burge Wines: David Sly tastes the latest releases

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Penfolds Collection 2020

Henschke releases 2015 Hill of Grace

In 2010, a band of 11 leading Australian multi-generational family wine producers with more than 1,200 years of collective winemaking experience combined under the Australia’s First Families of Wine (AFFW) banner. Their purpose? To quash the notion ‘that Australia and fine wine don’t go together… we want to bring perception and reality together’, said then chairman Alister Purbrick of Tahbilk in Victoria.

That objective was firmly achieved at a recent tasting in London where the group members each showcased one of their museum-release flagship wines.

Australia’s Fine Wine

The Shirazes from Henschke, d’Arenberg, Mount Pleasant and Jim Barry stood out for sheer quality and emphatic sense of place, highlighting the mesmerisingly diverse styles of Australia’s most planted grape: the fragrance of Eden Valley’s most famous vineyard; the earthier grunt of McLaren Vale; the ageability of acid-driven Hunter Valley Shiraz; and the bottomless fruit pit of my top scorer, from a sun-drenched vineyard in Clare Valley.

Conversely, Yalumba’s flagship wine, The Caley, showcased Australia’s multi-regional blending tradition. This polished, precise third release puts Coonawarra Cabernet firmly in the driving seat, with Barossa Shiraz for complementary muscle and spice.

Two lovely Cabernet Sauvignons from Western Australia and South Australia’s Clare Valley rounded out the reds, proving that it’s not just Coonawarra where this majestic grape thrives.

Grape-sourcing from more than 5,000ha in 16 regions enables AFFW members to invest in more esoteric styles too, such as the Hunter Valley’s unique unoaked Semillon, a sparkling wine from a plateau at 800m in Victoria’s King Valley, and an unoaked Marsanne which Tahbilk has grown in the Nagambie Lakes region since the 1860s – when it was known as ‘White Hermitage’.

Finally, drawn from a solera of fortified Rutherglen Muscat laid down well over 70 years ago, Campbells’ Merchant Prince is rare by name and nature and a true special occasion wine. How better to celebrate long-term thinking over short-term gain – surely one of the beauties of family-owned businesses?

• See Australia’s Finest: Lanton’s top 40 tasting

And long-term thinking means being ready for every possible challenge, including climate change, already wreaking havoc across Australia through devastating droughts. For sixth-generation wine grower Johann Henschke, nurturing his ancient soils through biodynamic viticulture is key, while Peter Barry’s legacy to the third generation is Greece’s heat-loving Assyrtiko grape. In a similar vein, d’Arenberg’s fourth-generation winemaker, Chester Osborn, is now working with 37 grape varieties, including Mencía, Montepulciano and Fiano.

‘You can’t be scared of climate change,’ concluded Barry. ‘You just have to focus on making better wine.’

Tasting flagship Australian Wines from the AFFW members:

Members of Australia’s First Families of Wine

Brown Brothers (Victoria)

Campbells (Rutherglen, Victoria)

d’Arenberg (McLaren Vale, South Australia)

Henschke (Eden Valley, South Australia)

Howard Park (Margaret River, Western Australia)

Jim Barry (Clare Valley, South Australia)

McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant (Hunter Valley, New South Wales)

Tahbilk (Nagambie Lakes, Victoria)

Tyrrell’s (Hunter Valley, New South Wales)

Wakefield (Clare Valley, South Australia)

Yalumba (Barossa, South Australia)

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The wine is the first Special Bin label for almost a decade, as they are only released if ‘they offer something extra, different and unique,’ according to Penfolds.

Bin 111A is sourced from fruit which regularly makes it into Grange, from two single-vineyard sites in the Clare and Barossa valleys. It is the first Special Bin blend of Clare Valley and Barossa Valley fruit.

The wine was officially unveiled at a celebratory 175th anniversary dinner at the Penfolds Magill Estate.

‘The reveal of Special Bin 111A Clare Valley / Barossa Valley Shiraz 2016 created a moment I’m sure will be remembered for years to come,’ said Peter Gago, Penfolds chief winemaker.

‘We await the next 175 years – the journey continues, and it’s a privilege to witness its progression’.

See also: Best Penfold wines – top scorers 

See also Penfolds wines tasted here

‘This year of celebration has been filled with many significant moments – the launch of three 2012 Thiénot x Penfolds Champagnes, The Apothecaries 175th Dinner for European trade & media in London, tastings for Rewards of Patience (Ed VIII), and the release of The Penfolds Collection 2019.’

When celebrating its 170th anniversary, Penfolds released the Bin 170 Kalimna Shiraz 2010, retailing for $60,000.

First taste: Penfolds Bin 111A Clare Valley Shiraz 2016

Wine Legend: Penfolds Bin 60A 1962

Millions of people are currently gripped by Rugby World Cup fever, captivated by battles occurring across Japan until 2 November. Wine and rugby are both high on my list of passions, and it is this global celebration of the game which made me think about how both have changed over the years.

I played rugby more than three decades ago, and while there were some big lads on the pitch, there was room for some of us smaller, lighter, nimbler guys to make our mark. Team photos show a remarkable range of physical specimens, from little tiddlers, to beanpoles and strongmen, to rather chubby types.

Looking at the physical stats of the players today, it seems every position is filled with extraordinarily tall, heavy and yet fit and fast monsters. It occurred to me that Australia’s most important red-wine class, Shiraz, used to conform to type – big, inky, oaky, weighty, high in alcohol and packing a memorable punch. Back in the 1980s, Australian Shiraz was as universally powerful as the members of all international rugby teams today.What I find amazing though is that, as time has slipped by and Australia has embraced the diversity of its soil and microclimates, a one-size-fits-all Shiraz message simply doesn’t exist now. As you will see in my list of 18 wines, I have a veritable ’80s rugby team line-up (plus substitutes). These days, every shape and size of Shiraz – and indeed Syrah, for those who like to emphasise the tenderness of their wine – is made Down Under.

While Old Bastard and The Beast sound like they are part of a terrifying squad of elite sporting cyborgs, they are nothing of the sort. Both wines are sumptuous and layered with generous, velvety fruit. Grange itself ought to be the most muscular and imposing member of my team, given its reputation and huge wage bill, but it is a far more considered wine than you might imagine.

Matthew Jukes’ Aussie Shiraz team from most nimble (1) to most intense (18) – reviews below

1: Innocent Bystander Syrah

2: Payten & Jones nMajor Kong Syrah

3: Tyrrell’s 4 Acres Shiraz

4: The Story R Lane Vintners Westgate Vineyard Shiraz

5: Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz

6: Clonakilla Shiraz-Viognier

7: Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards Shiraz

8: Chapel Hill The Vicar Shiraz

9: d’Arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz

10: Tim Smith Wines Shiraz

11: Sons of Eden Marschall Shiraz

12: Glaetzer Anaperenna

13: Hentley Farm The Beast Shiraz

14: First Drop The Cream

15: Kaesler Old Bastard

16: Torbreck Descendant

17: Jim Barry The Armagh Shiraz

18: Penfolds Grange

It goes without saying that Innocent Bystander sounds like he might be the perfect touch judge, not wanting to get involved on the field of conquest, but this is the definitive fly-half wizard of yesteryear. I’d argue that this wine is the epitome of Welsh legend Jonathan Davies: 5 foot 7 inches tall, 12 stone and a man who could dance around any opposition player at will.

Endeavouring to avoid any English bias, I’m lucky to know Wallaby legend Michael Lynagh well, and it never ceases to amaze me that this man – whom I regard as one of the greats, given that I played in the same position as he did – is a little shorter and a lot lighter than I am. Size and shape, weight and height was not the be all and end all in old-fashioned rugby and it is largely irrelevant in today’s Australian Shiraz scene.

Fruit quality and intensity of flavour, coupled with length and completeness, are all characters which are valued over alcohol, oak, inkiness and brawn. The wines below all prove that point.

Matthew Jukes’ top 18 Australian Shiraz

On his usual whirlwind visit to London (in Paris the day before, leaving for Australia the day after) to present the 2019 Penfolds Collection, chief winemaker Peter Gago was more ebullient than ever, buoyed by Penfolds’ new venture into Champagne with the excellent, albeit under-the-radar, house Thiénot.

In its 175th anniversary year, Penfolds releases its 2019 Collection this autumn with two notable absences from the 16-strong range of bin-numbered wines: its iconic Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon and Bin 169 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.

Scroll down to see the wines in the 2019 collection

The fact that these two stalwarts of the Bin range have been dropped from the team tells you something about the integrity of the brand. For most companies accounting to their shareholders (Treasury Wine Estates), not releasing wines of such reputation and value would be commercial suicide.

For chief winemaker Peter Gago however, it’s the other way round: releasing wines from vintages he feels doesn’t justify their reputation would itself amount to a loss of integrity and commercial cynicism.

Gago is keen to acknowledge the contribution of the Penfolds’ team to the impressive Bin range. ‘Penfolds’ winemakers employ a personal responsibility and great pride in the wines they make’.

The result is a collection of individual personalities (the wines, not the winemakers…) conforming to a greater or lesser extent to a known house style. The collection showcases multi-regional, multi-varietal blending and multi-vineyard blending.

The wines

The bulk of this collection is based on the plentiful, late 2017 crop which generally enjoyed a long, cool ripening period and dry harvest without the drought so often associated with Australian vintages in recent years. The result was a crop 5% bigger overall than 2016, producing elegant, high quality wines. In total, the Penfolds Collection 2019 spans five vintages: 2015-2019.

As it so often does, the Bin 389 shone, as did the RWT, while the St Henri 2016 stood out this year – but then it‘s a personal favourite and generally does show well.

Grange was Grange, but with its near Port-like ripeness, it would be fair to say that it wasn’t one of my favourites, even if Grange lovers will lap it up – give me 10 Bin 389s for the same price.

As for the whites, they really are distinctive, and distinguished, drops.

Tasting the Penfolds Collection 2019:

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The best wines were terrific, but essentially it was a mixed bag for an evolving style, said our panel of expert tasters after putting around 70 Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvèdre wines through their paces. See the top scorers below...

Originally published in the April 2016 issue of Decanter and now re-published online, exclusively for Decanter Premium subscribers.

• 71 wines tasted, with 3 Outstanding chosen by our panel of Anthony Rose, Justin Knock MW and Vicky Stephens-Clarkson MW

The summary

The heartland regions of McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley both starred, with leading producers doing well, as expected, proving that the GSM category has great potential, says Anthony Rose…

It will come as no surprise to find that the two South Australian regions of Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale dominate the 23 wines awarded either Outstanding or Highly Recommended in this fascinating tasting.Both of these warm, dry regions have demonstrated that they are ideally suited to the late-ripening Grenache and Mourvedre grapes, even if extreme heat spikes or abnormal rainfall occasionally put a dent in the blends.

Scroll down to see the top scoring wines of this tasting

Of the top 23, 13 blends come from Barossa and five from McLaren Vale, with the remaining five wines split between Clare Valley, Yarra Valley, Central Ranges, Heathcote and generic South Australia.

Almost all the wines had Grenache as the dominant partner, but Mourvedre was the main variety in four of the wines, one of them the top wine in the tasting, the 2013 Efferus from Abel and Emma Gibson’s Ruggabellus.

Names expected to do well, and which did so, included Kalleske, Penfolds, Elderton, Yangarra, Hardys, Teusner and Grant Burge, and Zar and Elena Brooks should pat themselves on the back for having both their 2014 Dandelion Vineyards and Sister’s Run in the top group.

Among others, McGuigan’s 2012 The Shortlist, Henschke’s 2014 Johann’s Garden, Rockford’s 2010 Moppa Springs GMS, Noon’s 2014 Eclipse and Charles Melton’s La Belle Mère GSRM all received some support, but might have been expected to do better.

Alcohol levels were within reasonable bounds for the balanced styles producers are looking for with GSM, and in many cases are (perhaps surprisingly) lower than in their southern Rhône counterparts. The use of oak was generally well done, with the best producers opting for older oak, and on occasion a small proportion of new oak, and larger-format vessels. Some whole bunches in the fermentation also added vibrancy and complexity.

Overall, this tasting demonstrated that while GSM is a category that can be challenging because of the many options and decisions required to produce a high-quality blend, it is a potentially exciting category that adds a new and distinctive string to Australia’s expanding bow of wine styles.

The scores

71 wines tasted

Entry criteria: producers and UK agent were invited to submit their latest-release Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre blends, where Shiraz is not the dominant variety.

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly Recommended 20

Recommended 37

Commended 11

Fair 0

Poor 0

Faulty 0

About the results

This ‘evolving style’ excited our judges, who found lots to like in these mainly Grenache-based wines – especially when oak use was tempered and the best fruit was selected for the blend. Tina Gellie reports…

Our experts were optimistic at these results, which they felt showed the potential of Rhône-style blends in Australia – especially Barossa and McLaren Vale.

But it’s a work in progress, said Anthony Rose. ‘The best wines were terrific, but essentially it was a mixed bag – an evolving style – where it was clear there were a minority of producers who understood what they were doing and the majority who hadn’t quite got it right.’

There were a number of reasons for this, he said, one being how producers prioritised fruit for GSM blends over their varietal Grenache, Shiraz or Mourvedre wines, which are commercially very important. ‘Some wines seemed to be afterthoughts, the leftovers of each variety. Whereas in other wines you could really taste where the producer had said “Yes, I’m going to make a Rhône-style blend and use my best fruit for it”.’

For Vicky Stephens-Clarkson MW, the well-made GSM blends offered a more appealing option than varietal wines, particularly 100% Shiraz. ‘Australia is dominated by Shiraz or Shiraz-dominant blends. I love it as a variety for its structure and pepper notes. But GSMs have everything you could possibly want: the ripeness and fruit from Grenache, Shiraz’s structure and longevity and the dark depths of Mourvedre.’ She and the other tasters agreed that the Grenache-dominant blends were (apart from a few examples) more successful than those based on Mourvedre – a ‘much trickier’ variety.

Justin Knock MW agreed: ‘McLaren Vale GSMs still tend to be made in a sweeter, riper style, and those with a lot of Shiraz in them look a bit old-fashioned and heavy,’ he said. ‘It seemed to me that Mourvedre is a good brake on the accelerated alcohol. Shiraz drives it forward with lots of heat and power, and Mourvedre restrains it in a positive way.’

Apart from a few wines whose high alcohols masked the fruit, all three tasters were generally happy with the levels. ‘It was good to see some at 13.5% and 14%, but they were not necessarily better than other wines that were still harmonious at 14.5% or more,’ noted Knock. He found those wines where producers had used whole bunches displayed a freshness and purity that balanced high alcohols.

While some producers still adhered to more oak-affected styles, the judges were pleased to see ‘a rapid evolution’ on this front. ‘Oak is the great homogeniser,’ said Knock. ‘In a world where so many people are making great wines, why would you use something to make yours less distinct?’ Clarkson agreed: ‘Producers seemed to be using it very intelligently and moderately. There were only a few examples where it was excessive.’

Looking at vintages, Clarkson summed up: ‘2011 was very variable – you’ll need to choose carefully; 2013 and 2015 were warmer, drier vintages favouring Grenache-based wines and giving generous fruit; the 2014 wines were fresher, and pretty for a challenging year; and of the blockbusters in 2010 and 2012, the ’10s looked to be at a good stage of their evolution, while the ’12s seemed advanced for their age.’

In terms of longevity, the tasters didn’t see these wines improving beyond 10 years from vintage, often far less. ‘But I was impressed by their structure – particularly the young wines,’ said Rose. ‘The best will carry a balance of alcohol, tannin and acidity with their good weight of fruit, well into middle age.’

Our tasters each pick their top 3 wines from the tasting:

Justin Knock MW

Knock worked in wine retail before joining d’Arenberg in McLaren Vale. Moving to the Hunter Valley, he became research winemaker for Rosemount and then Southcorp, before a winemaking stint in Margaret River. After moving to London to work with Southcorp, he became wine-buying manager for Treasury Wine Estates. He is now director of The Purple Hand Wine Co consultancy. He also makes wine in Australia’s Yarra Valley.

‘GSMs are some of the most enjoyable wines coming out of Australia. Most in our tasting delivered this, yet a significant number were overly oaky, which seems perverse and unnecessarily oxidative on Grenache in particular. Alcohol levels were generally balanced – a positive trend.

‘Grenache and Mourvedre/Mataro thrived in the hot 2013 vintage, producing the most fragrant, complex and enjoyable wines. While a few rich 2012s were fantastic, others were dry and over-extracted. The 2014s were a little disappointing overall and slightly one-dimensional – perhaps reflecting the youthful styles currently in the market.

‘The Barossa stands out with the highest number of top wines that most frequently deliver the gamut of complexity one hopes for. There are some great wines too from McLaren Vale, though it’s less consistent as a region. Some cooler, spicier styles are emerging from Victoria and New South Wales that show promise with charm rather than power.’

Spinifex, Esprit, Barossa Valley 2012

Pete Schell works the sandy soils of the eastern Barossa and gives an almost Pinot-like touch to his wines. Where others swaggered with muscularity, this Esprit was effortlessly charming and virile. A benchmark style that’s the future for the Barossa. 96/100 Drink 2016-2024

Salomon Estate, Aestatis, South Australia 2009

A left-field wine and one of the few that showed well with age. A luscious, opulent style that reminded me of my first whiff of a GSM in the mid-1990s – it immediately brought a smile to my face. Well made, with lots of berry and liquorice flavours. 95 Drink 2016-2020

Yangarra, GSM, McLaren Vale 2013

A Grenache specialist that sets the highest standards – moderate alcohols and no confected, raisined notes. This is sapid, complex and lovely. 95 Drink 2016-2020

Anthony Rose

Rose is the DWWA Regional co-Chair for Australia, a regular contributor to Decanter and the wine correspondent of UK newspapers the Independent and i. He has won a number of awards for his wine writing, is a founding member of www.thewinegang.com and also has his own blog on www.anthonyrosewine.com

‘This was a tasting with as many ups and downs as the hills and valleys of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. With three Outstanding and 20 Highly Recommended wines out of 71 tasted,our line-up showed that when the GSM category is good, it can be very, very good in a style that can hold its own with the best of the southern Rhône. Equally, when it is bad, it can be horrid indeed.

‘There was an unsurprising predominance of Barossa and McLaren Vale wines, whose warm climates are clearly suited to Mediterranean varieties. It’s almost certainly a cliché to say that the best of the blends showed fine perfumes and a complexity, texture and freshness that the lesser wines lacked, but it would also be true to say that, in general, the alcohol levels were reasonably well balanced with relatively few wines over 14.5%. Equally, producers were generally sensitive to the oak handling, with few examples showing excessive use of oak.

‘GSM is an unlovely acronym, not least for its potential confusion with MSG, M&S, S&M, not to mention Graduate School of Management or Grams per Square Metre. But in this case it was Game, Set and Match.’

Ruggabellus, Efferus, Barossa 2013

The main reason I enjoyed this super-peppery, blackberry and damson-savoury red so much was because of its high proportion, at 73%, of Mourvedre in the blend. 95/100 Drink 2016-2021

Dog Day Wines, Rusty Mutt, Rocky Ox GSM, McLaren Vale 2014

This intriguingly spicy, faintly iodiney blend muscled its way into my top three for its bright, supple-textured fruit, because I’ve never heard of it, and because I have a suspicion that it’s one of the best-value wines in the tasting. 95 Drink 2016-2019.

Spinifex, Esprit Barossa Valley 2012

Technically a GMC (Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault), this was an obvious choice for me, not least because of its camphor-spicy aromatics and clarity of sweet dark berry fruits in muscular frame. Real finesse and balance. 95 Drink 2016-2024

Vicky Stephens-Clarkson MW

Stephens-Clarkson joined the wine trade in 2000, working for a grande marque Champagne house in Epernay. She has also worked as a buyer and winemaker for UK merchants Liberty Wines, Direct Wines/Laithwaite’s and Lay & Wheeler. She is now head of buying for Atlas Fine Wines, becoming a Master of Wine in 2015.

‘GSM is a proven combination that works in the southern Rhône but has travelled extremely well to Australia. Grenache bears the heat well and that is a key benefit of this variety. While not downplaying the contribution that Mourvedre, Cinsault or other minority varieties make, the key to these wines is the interplay between Grenache and Shiraz, where the Grenache provides a core of red fruits that can fill out the structure provided by Shiraz, and balance its peppery spice.

‘I preferred the denser (albeit headier in alcohol) 2013s over the 2012s. The 2014s are a different style, without the intense heat of ’12 and ’13. The slightly fresher feel to the 2014s will please many.

‘Alcohol is often a concern in warm-climate areas, but I didn’t feel it was an issue here. The only criticism was the use of new oak: if it’s too heavy it can dominate, adding harder tannins that stick out and distract from the natural fruit character. What was noticeable, however, was the excellent depth and breadth in our line-up. The quality is always improving and I’ll certainly be stocking up myself!’

Ruggabellus, Efferus, Barossa 2013

While this Mourvedre-dominant wine was my top-scorer, I wouldn’t advocate a large-scale shift to producing Mourvedre-dominant blends, as they can be rather angular. But from this producer it brims with fruit and fine structure. I’ll be buying a bottle myself! 98/100 Drink 2016-2021

Penfolds, Bin 138, Barossa Valley 2010

Reassuringly familiar quality from Penfolds. Generous fruit and alcohol and a hearty palate – perfect winter wine. While not cheap, it’s still good value within the context of many other high scorers. 96 Drink 2016-2025

Pimpernel Vineyards, GSM2, Yarra Valley 2012

Off the beaten track, from a region usually associated with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It was a perfect foil to some of the heavyweights from South Australia’s warmer climes, without compromising either character or flavour. Goes on and on! 95 Drink 2016-2019

About Australian GSM

Consumers may not have caught on to the GSM wine category, but the time-honoured southern Rhône blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre is a spiritual beacon for Australian producers of the style.

Grenache, the Mediterranean alter ego of Shiraz, tends to be the dominant variety, and while it was once the backbone for Australia’s fortified wines, it became a prophet without honour, or profit, when still wines turned the tables on fortified wines in the 1950s.

It wasn’t so long ago, says Kym Teusner (Teusner Wines), that Grenache ‘wasn’t even a category but listed in the emerging varieties section of the second biggest retailer in the country’. By the time of the resurgence of the Barossa and return of southern Rhône varieties, much of the best old-vine material had been uprooted.

Despite, or perhaps because of, this resurrection, there’s been a spike in demand for GSM blends over the past five years. Teusner believes there are a number of reasons for this – first, that consumers are looking for wines that are not just all heft and oak, but that offer enjoyment, complexity and balance. He also wonders whether, now European wines are more readily available in Australia, that consumers are more tempted to try styles that may once have been off their radar.

Sites and styles

The development of Australia’s regional focus has had an impact on identifying the best sites for GSMs. It’s no surprise that the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale are the two most significant. These are the hot, dry regions with Mediterranean climates that most closely resemble their counterparts in the southern Rhône. And, as climate change becomes increasingly significant, it seems likely that GSM blends, with their capacity to resist drought, will grow in importance in these regions.

Some sympathise with the view that GSM blends can be a catch-all category for wines made from leftover fruit that didn’t make the top grade. Unsurprisingly however, this view is not widely shared by its producers. Most agree the selection of vineyards and fruit for the blended styles is the critical factor and that what they are looking for is vibrant, fresh fruit capable of making balanced, approachable wines, while the blending options allow for greater texture and complexity.

The use of whole bunches is a trend, as are natural fermentation, field blends, extended maceration, lees contact, use of other varieties and co-fermentation of the later-ripening Grenache and Mourvedre. Organic, biodynamic and sustainable viticulture, plus soft and slow maturation are also in the mix. Producers are aware of potentially high alcohols but don’t see this as an issue if they can achieve freshness, fruit purity and balance.

Aussie GSM blends: the facts

Grenache 519 hectares are planted in the Barossa Valley, producing 3,254 tonnes of grapes; McLaren Vale (385ha, 2,469t); Riverland (252ha, 4,590t).

Shiraz Barossa Valley (5,748ha, 26,959t); McLaren Vale (3,412ha, 18,979t); Riverland (5,370ha, 109,038t).

Mourvedre/Mataro Barossa Valley (220ha, 1,434t); McLaren Vale (89ha, 654t); Riverland (169ha, 2,862t).

Aussie GSM blends: know your vintages

2015 Despite wind, frost and rain, a warmer than average summer, with ripe, often pale Grenache and Mourvedre for pure, mid-bodied wines.

2014 Challenging vintage of variable temperatures and above-average rainfall with medium-bodied, savoury wines for good easy drinking.

2013 Drier and warmer than average with low yields. Similar to 2010 but more forward and fruit driven with solid tannins and a warm finish.

2012 Perfect ripening season, with low yields in areas. A much-touted vintage along 2010 lines with opulence, structure and firm acid backbone.

2011 Abnormally cold and wet year with botrytis problems producing light, herbal wines that are either forgettable or at best lean and European in style.

2010 A classic year with a hot spring and warm summer, producing wines of full-bodied, ripe rich fruit with good structure and balance.

2009 A warm, dry year with below-average yields in Shiraz and Grenache and a mild summer producing fine Grenache and Mourvedre.

The top wines

Former England cricket star Sir Ian Botham OBE has launched a new range of Australian wines and said that there will be more to come in the 'near future'.

Botham, nicknamed ‘Beefy’ and once a tormentor of Australian cricketers while playing as an all-rounder with England, announced his new wine range in partnership with Benchmark Drinks at an event at Lord’s in London today (27 July).

Botham’s love of wine is well-known and he has previously credited late cricket commentator John Arlott for igniting his passion for top wines in his younger years.

The new wine range, entirely Australian, includes a Barossa 81 Series Shiraz in memory of the 1981 Ashes series and Botham’s leading role in winning the urn for England.

That wine is part of a mid-range known as ‘The Botham Series’, which also includes a Margaret River ’76 series’ Chardonnay and a Coonawarra ’80 series’ Cabernet.

Those are expected to retail for around £12-a-bottle.

Another three wines will form the ‘Sir Ian Botham Collection’ and are to be sold exclusively in the UK via Berry Bros & Rudd, probably at around £30-a-bottle.

Those include:

• a Barossa Valley single vineyard Shiraz, produced with Nick Badrice, chief winemaker at Dorrien Estate and Krondorf winery;
• an Adelaide Hills Chardonnay blended by Marty Edwards of The Lane Vineyard;
• a Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon produced with Geof Merrill, who Botham has known since touring Australia with England in 1978. The pair already have a long-standing partnership having previously formed Botham Merrill Willis wines with former England captain Bob Willis.

‘My philosophy going into this was simple,’ said Botham.

‘I knew the style of wine I was looking for, and I wanted to bring exceptional but fairly priced wines to market. We have focused the first phase of our launch on Australian wines and we are looking forward to presenting new origins and products in the near future – watch this space.’

An entry level ‘Botham all-rounder’ range of wines will include a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon drawn from different regions within South Eastern Australia. They are expected to retail for around £8.99.

Both the ‘all-rounder’ and the ‘series’ ranges are set to launch in the autumn.

Paul Schaafsma, MD of Benchmark Drinks, said it was a privilege to work with Botham on the project.

See also: Our favourite Australian fine wines from the Langton’s Classification 

Published online exclusively for Premium members

Decanter's experts investigate the merits of decanting top Bordeaux, Napa Cabernet and Rhône Syrah and how the aeration time can impact taste.

This article compiles articles published across three issues of Decanter magazine between November 2013 and January 2014. It has now been published online and in full for Premium members.

In this article we compare how decanting affects several types of wine:

Bordeaux & Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Vintage Port

Northern Rhône Syrah & Barossa Shiraz

Scroll to the bottom to see the panels’ conclusions

What goes on in a decanter?

The process of aeration – in effect, a very gentle oxidation – is not that well understood, according to Geoff Taylor of wine laboratory Corkwise.

He portrays a battle of oxygen versus antioxidants being waged at the point at which wine meets air.If that point is very small – as it is in a bottle that has been uncorked but not decanted – the battle will be very slow. If the surface of the wine exposed to air is greater – if the wine has been decanted, double-decanted, decanted and given a shake, or given any other speeding-up treatment – it will be faster.First of all, Taylor says, wine contains natural antioxidants. The younger, bigger and heavier the red wine, the more it will have.

Then there is sulphur dioxide (SO2) usually added at bottling to prevent oxidation before we’re ready for it. SO2 also inhibits the aromas of wine. When the wine is opened, Taylor asks us to imagine a molecule of oxygen coming towards the wine like a football. The SO2, or some other natural antioxidant, grabs the oxygen and prevents it from oxidising the wine.

Gradually, as the onslaught of oxygen continues, the antioxidants in the wine are used up. Oxidation then begins. The oxygen penetrates gradually: the top layers first, then further down. Again, the size of the surface exposed to the air makes a huge difference.

How long will a bottle of wine, opened but not decanted, take to be saturated with oxygen?

A few hours, Taylor says. ‘Liquid forms a strong natural barrier to gas pushing its way in.’ What the oxygen gradually does is return the wine to its near-virgin state, before SO2 was added – but, of course, with all the changes wrought by age being revealed.

If the wine is very old, and especially if it has been stored well, ‘it is a very reductive environment’, Taylor says. Not reductive in the sense of eggy and sulphidey, as we might understand it as a wine fault, but a sort of suspended animation where all processes happen very slowly.

‘All wine will eventually oxidise, but stored well in bottle it almost goes into a hibernation state,’ he adds. ‘Once the cork is out, however, the oxidation process restarts.’ And catches up: imagine removing the Botox rather quickly from a frozen face.

Which wines should be decanted?

The conventional wisdom is correct: a deposit in the bottle signals a need for decanting, or you’ll be straining it through your teeth. That means red wines with tannin and bottle age: Bordeaux, Port, Rhône, that sort of thing.

Professor Emile Peynaud, the late, great transformer of many-a Bordeaux châteaux, believed that separating wine and sediment was the only reason to decant, but Steven Spurrier suggests Peynaud was mostly concerned with preserving freshness, because he spent his life persuading producers to make vibrant wines.

But such prosaic reasons are not the only ones. Wines open with aeration: wine that is tight and glum at first taste can become vivacious and talkative after time in a decanter: it’s the equivalent of charm school. Or it can be.

To what extent can decanting substitute for a few more years of bottle age? That’s one of the things we wanted to find out.

All sorts of wines were decanted in the past: Sauternes, dry whites, even Champagne. Getting rid of bottle stink was one reason: back in ye olden days, wine occasionally smelled quite off when first opened, and aeration let that come away to reveal the beauty beneath. It doesn’t seem to happen now, but with very old wines it presumably could.

In Bordeaux, the usual way is either to double-decant, pouring the wine back into the original bottle and restoppering, or to decant and stopper the decanter about an hour or two before serving.

Burgundy, being less tannic, is less likely to throw a lot of deposit – though old wines might have done.

The more tannic Italian wines were traditionally not decanted, but might be opened the day before. Old Riojas, having been aged for aeons in wood, didn’t throw a deposit in the bottle, so decanting was only necessary if the wine seemed a bit stinky.

In a restaurant nowadays, if you order a red and ask for it to be decanted, and have a white first, the decanter will likely arrive at your table about 45 minutes after the wine has been opened.

So many traditions, so many reasons.

Spurrier: How to decant – A practical guide

Decanting Bordeaux & Napa Valley

Gérard Basset MW MS OBE, Stephen Brook & Steven Spurrier

One of the perennial decanting puzzles is how to adjust the time of aeration to the age of the wine. The usual advice is to give less aeration to old wines. But do young wines benefit from more time?

We picked three vintages for this tasting. We wanted one vintage at its peak, one beginning to drink well, and one young and needing more time.

Jean-Charles Cazes of Château Lynch-Bages suggested 1996 for the mature vintage, 2000 for the nearly-drinking vintage and 2006 for the young vintage. All are very good years – and we approached Lynch-Bages in the first place because it combines both modernity and classicism.

Doug Shafer matched them vintage for vintage with his Hillside Select. Inevitably, the Shafer was not at exactly the same stage of development as the Lynch-Bages – Hillside Select 2006 is more approachable now than Lynch-Bages 2006, for instance – but it was clear why you would lay down Hillside Select for 17 years.

Hillside Select is a Napa Cabernet to its toes, with all the lush power you would expect, but the elegance and structure of a hillside wine. The parallels were good.

Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 2006

This was, by any standards, a young wine that none of the panel would have opened for drinking at this stage; but if they had, they’d have expected to decant it. And it became clear that aeration was not a panacea, nor a substitute, for maturity.

Even the wines that had been in a decanter or opened for four hours had not turned into the silky, seductive creature that is a mature Lynch-Bages: the tannins were still pretty brutal, though four hours did a fair job of smoothing them out.

Nevertheless, the four-hour wines weren’t anyone’s favourite. The tannins were smoother but the wines were getting just a touch flat. The just-opened wines weren’t a lot of fun, and the middle ground seemed the happiest place to be: for Gérard Basset, the two-hour wines were best, followed by the one-hours; Steven Spurrier and Stephen Brook agreed.

Which left the question of whether to decant.

‘There weren’t huge differences between them,’ said Brook. ‘In general, the decanted wines were a little more open and sweeter on the nose, and softer on the attack, but on the mid-palate there were no significant differences; the character of the wine stayed the same,’ he said.

‘In the context of a dinner table, with food and the swirl of conversation, would anyone notice?’

Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2006

Gérard Basset described this wine as ‘readier to drink than the Lynch-Bages 2006; rounder and more approachable. I wouldn’t drink the Lynch-Bages yet, but you could drink this. The texture – everything is different.’ Stephen Brook agreed: ‘It’s more in-your-face. It’s all massive primary fruit, with not much subtlety.’

Decanting times made far more difference here than with the Lynch-Bages 2006. There, tasters found that the wine remained itself no matter what you did to it. Here, since the wine was more evolved to start with, decanting evolved it even more.

For the first time, four hours in a decanter didn’t seem too much, at least to Steven Spurrier. The one-hour wines were very different to the just-opened wines, and the two-hour wines were different again. ‘Both two-hour wines had opened up, but had lost their vibrancy of fruit, so were a bit flat; they hadn’t had time to become complex,’ he said.

‘But I really liked the four-hour wines. That extra two hours allowed the wine to take on new life. Two hours shut it down, and four hours brought it back. It aged a year or two; it was terrific.’ Of the four-hour wines, his slight preference was for the decanted one.

Brook and Basset both liked the two-hour wines best – ‘more complexity’, said Basset, especially the non-decanted wine, and Brook concurred, though found it hard to choose between the two: ‘The decanted wine was more evolved. And both the four-hour wines were lacking in aromatic intensity.’

Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 2000

This is a wine that, as Stephen Brook said, you could drink, but it still had a lot of tannins. ‘Initially softer, with strong savoury tones; a touch more rustic than the 2006, but still jolly good,’ was his description. It’s a very rich wine – certainly the richest of the Lynch-Bages trio.

If the panel had seemed a bit baffled after the first flight, they were a lot more confident now. ‘The differences were much more clear cut,’ said Brook. ‘The just-opened and one-hour wines were better decanted; they had an extra dimension that the non-decanted wines lacked: more breadth of fruit, more generosity. At two and four hours, though, it was less clear, and the decanted wines, especially at four hours, had more meaty tones of oxidation, of accelerated development.’ For him, two hours and not decanted was best.

When it came to the two-hour wines, however, Gérard Basset and Steven Spurrier both preferred the decanted versions, and Spurrier preferred the decanted four-hour wine, while Basset found both four-hour wines pretty equal.

Generally, though, four hours again seemed too long. ‘Both were going away,’ said Spurrier; ‘they were losing their freshness.’ This was to become a refrain of the tasting: it was already becoming clear that longer aeration is not better.

Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2000 

This wine was a lot less evolved than the Lynch-Bages 2000: still all primary fruit with no secondary, savoury tones. Very youthful.

‘For the first time,’ said Steven Spurrier, ‘I preferred the non-decanted wine of the just-opened pair: it had lovely cassis fruit, vigour and freshness. Decanting just allowed it to mature a bit, so that the richness came out. But for the rest of the flight I preferred the decanted version. Two hours helped the decanted wine to open, and show its alcohol, richness and complexity, but the non-decanted wine had stopped in its tracks.’

At four hours he found that ‘the more the wine is open, the more it absorbs the sugars and lets the finesse shine’. Stephen Brook disagreed. At four hours he found oxidation and evolution marked in both wines. ‘They still had massive fruit, but they were flat.’ He preferred the non-decanted wines at all stages (‘more precision, tautness’) except for the just-opened pair, where the decanted wine ‘jumped out of the glass’.

What he especially noticed was that between two and four hours the profile changed: ‘Less cassis vibrancy and more brooding characters – odd as a consequence of aeration.’ His tip was to pour from the bottle, and allow much aeration.

Gérard Basset preferred the decanted wines except at one hour, where he favoured the non-decanted. ‘My least favourite pair was the four-hour wines. They didn’t have that finesse.’ So our trio agreed on the difference created by long aeration, just not on whether they liked it.

Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 1996 

Steven Spurrier defined this vintage as ‘a classic Cabernet year with structured wines that are taking their time to come round’. Stephen Brook noted ‘a herbal quality, which I like but which may not be appreciated in the US’.

Brook liked the way the non-decanted wines kept their freshness and vibrancy, except for the just-opened pair, where the brief aeration of the decanted version seemed better. But he agreed that many people would prefer the roundness of the decanted wines all the way through.

It’s a wine that needs aeration, said Spurrier: ‘The one-hour decanted wine shows at its peak, whereas the one-hour opened is still a bit grippy but will keep on developing through a dinner.

Of the two-hour wines, I loved the fresh aroma of the opened wine but it was green on the palate and lacked the chocolate note of the decanted wine.’

The just-opened pair Gérard Basset found similar; of the one-hour wines he preferred the decanted one – ‘more complete, but only by a whisker’ – and the two-hour wines, also, he found to be equal.

The only consensus was that, again, four hours was a bit too long. Basset found the non-decanted version more together; Spurrier found it fresher, ‘though this is not how it should be’; while Brook found it fresher, ‘though some may prefer the decanted wine’s more mellow quality’.

Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 1996 

Stephen Brook described this wine as ‘classic’ Californian Cabernet from a fine year. ‘It has excellent balance, great power and enormous fruit even after 16 years. It’s more evolved than the 2000, but not in a negative way.’

Gérard Basset felt that decanting made more difference here than in the other Shafer flights, as did time; and, accordingly, at four hours he preferred the non-decanted wine. But four hours was, he felt, too long. One or two hours, and decanted, were his favourites – and at these times, particularly at one hour, he found the biggest difference between decanting and not decanting.

Steven Spurrier’s preference was for very brief decanting, an hour at the most: ‘Maybe 15 minutes in the decanter, 10 minutes in the glass is best.’ Longer times ‘act against the fruit and flatten it, so you only get the tannins’.

Brook confessed to being ‘all over the place’ in his opinions. ‘The 1996 holds up to aeration better than the 2000. I liked the four-hour pair here, but I didn’t with the 2000. Each pair had its differences, but it was difficult to know which I preferred.’ His favourite in the flight was the wine decanted at two hours; but of the four-hour wines, he liked the ‘exuberance and vinosity’ of the non-decanted version.

Again, opinions were far more varied and far less clear than they were for the Lynch-Bages 1996. The safest route seems to be to decant the wine, but not for too long: more than two hours is risky.

Decanting Vintage Port

Gérard Basset MW MS OBE, Mel Jones MW & Richard Mayson

Vintage Port is a wine for which decanting is a necessity rather than an option, because of the deposit it throws during its long ageing in bottle.

Getting the wine off its deposit is not, however, the only reason for decanting. Wine that has been in bottle for a long time enters a sort of sleeping-beauty dormancy and needs to be woken up with a blast of air so that it can sing; wine that is still quite young needs aeration to soften its austere tannins and bring forth the fruit hiding in the structure.

Plus, of course, a decanter or three on a dining table look wonderful – more glamorous than even the smartest bottle.

Not all Port needs decanting, but the sort of dinner that invites a bottle of Port to round it off is usually the sort of dinner where a decanter seems appropriate: so even aged tawny is routinely decanted, although it has no sediment and shouldn’t need aerating. Some LBVs – those which are bottled unfiltered – will have thrown a sediment; most won’t. Crusted Port (the clue is in the name) throws a sediment. These are the only Ports for which decanting is a necessity.

Ask for guidance on how far ahead a bottle of vintage Port should be opened and you will get little more than a shrug. Quinta do Noval’s MD, Christian Seely, says ‘I usually decide about five minutes before dinner that I’m going to serve Noval Nacional; otherwise I decant at about 6pm.’

That would give the wine roughly four hours’ aeration before being served. In a restaurant, unless you order ahead, it will get considerably less, though probably more than the 45 minutes or so in a decanter that the red for your main course is likely to get.

As always when deciding how far ahead to open bottles, you should take into account the amount of time the decanter will continue to circulate. We were tasting briskly and moving on; that’s not dinner-table behaviour. It’s much better to allow the wine to open a little in the glass than risk it dying in the decanter – which very old wines can do.

Whereas many in Bordeaux double-decant, serving the wine in the original bottle minus the deposit, vintage Port in the Douro is usually served in a decanter, stoppered or unstoppered.

Stoppering is a useful half-measure if you want to decant well ahead but want to limit the amount of oxygen available to the wine, although we kept things simpler than that to establish some basic guidelines.

Quinta Vale Dona Maria, owned by Cristiano van Zeller, is one of the Douro’s best independent producers, and he supplied us with our young wine, his 2011.

Our youngish wine was Taylors 1997, a classic vintage from a classic shipper – The Fladgate Partnership, one of the two big groups of Port shippers.

Our mature vintage was Graham’s 1980, part of the other big group – the Symington Group.

The choice of vintages is important: the high quality of modern vintage Port (better viticulture has meant silkier tannins and beautiful purity of fruit) means that a trend has emerged for drinking it straight away, before it enters its closed period at three or four years old.

Quinta Vale Dona Maria 2011

This is a glorious Port vintage, and this quinta, taken over by Cristiano van Zeller in 1996, has great vineyards in the Rio Torto valley with some very old vines.

When we tasted it, the wine had been in bottle about three months; it was young, obviously, plump, and with marked sweetness and alcohol. Basset found it ‘not particularly expressive on the nose’ and Jones commented that while you could drink it now ‘it hasn’t done anything exciting yet’.

If you were going to drink it at this age you would not need to decant it, since after just three months there wasn’t even a hint of deposit; and logic would suggest that a wine this young would have least to gain from aeration.

Certainly four hours’ aeration didn’t seem to suit it, causing the fruit to fade. For Mayson, the decanted wines were a shade better, especially at one and two hours, and Basset agreed; so, basically, did Jones, though she found the one-hour decanted wine bizarrely more tannic than its non-decanted equivalent.

The differences overall were small, however, and they showed on the nose much more than on the palate, with the aromas reviving then, after four hours, showing signs of fading.

Taylor’s 1997

The tasters had to navigate considerable bottle variation here. ‘It’s balanced, still firm, with ripe tannins and showing well,’ said Mayson. ‘It’s on the cusp of being ready to drink.’

Here again, it was the aromas that changed most with decanting. ‘Almost all the palates were identical in each pair, decanted and non-decanted,’ said Jones. Given that the wine is almost ready to drink, one would expect aeration to be the touch on the tiller needed to make the aromas jump out of the glass.

Mayson’s favourite was the one-hour, non-decanted wine; Jones’s the just-opened and decanted wine. Basset’s preference was for just-opened and decanted, and one-hour opened; the differences were small, but less aeration was considered better than more.

‘I like freshness, and to see the wine develop in the glass,’ said Mayson. ‘Of the one-hour wines, most people would prefer the decanted; it’s more approachable. But I prefer the non-decanted.’ The others agreed: ‘the palate seems more integrated,’ said Jones.

Bottle variation made it difficult to judge the two-hour wines – the decanted wine had TCA notes – and the four-hour wines, though holding up pretty well, were nobody’s favourites. Indeed, it’s possible that bottle variation distorted the results, making the wines with less aeration more appealing.

Graham’s 1980

Jones summarised the wine as ‘absolutely ready, beautifully evolved and complex’. Mayson added, ‘It was a Cinderella vintage which surprised everybody, and the Symingtons produced some cracking wines.’

As this, like the Taylor’s, is a wine that would undoubtedly have to be decanted, it was just as well that the tasters marginally preferred the decanted wines all the way through. But only marginally: again, the differences were more on the nose than on the palate. Time made more of a difference, with the four-hour wines winning more approval than in either of the other flights.

However, even though the scores were in fact remarkably consistent across the flight, there was less agreement on favourites than in the other flights.

The impression is of a wine that you can treat pretty much how you like, and it will come up smiling. Is this a reflection of age and perfect maturity? It was very fresh; almost more youthful (given its age) than the Taylor’s. Said Basset, ‘There are 17 years between this and the last wine, but not 17 years difference in flavour.’ It certainly provided an enjoyable end to the tasting.

As Mayson said, ‘We were looking for small differences in this tasting, but for readers, after dinner, at 11pm, it’s not so crucial.’

Decanting Rhône Syrah & Barossa Valley Shiraz

Gérard Basset MW MS OBE, Stephen Brook & Matt Wilkin MS

Neither M Chapoutier’s Monier de la Sizeranne or Henschke’s Keyneton Estate Euphonium is the most expensive wine of its region; they’re the sort of wines that Decanter readers might have at home.

The first is pure Syrah from several different sites; the second is a blend of about 70% Shiraz with varying percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, grown in the Barossa.

Hermitage is one of the more aromatic, less chunky wines of the northern Rhône, and Henschke is famous for its balance of delicacy and concentration. We had three vintages of each: a young vintage, a vintage just coming up to drinkability, and a mature vintage. We left the choice of vintages, within those parameters, to the producers.

Chapoutier sent the 2010, 2007 and 2001; Henschke matched with the 2010, 2006 and 2002.

M Chapoutier, Monier de la Sizeranne, Hermitage 2010

Brook described this wine as ‘lacking flesh and succulence at first, but in the glass it gained more fruit weight. It’s still young and reserved but the integration is very good. It needs time’.

But even at this age you could still enjoy it. ‘It has a fingerprint of where it comes from,’ said Wilkin. It was also remarkably consistent and resilient across the flight – even four hours in a decanter couldn’t entirely flatten it. But four hours is not recommended.

Of that pair, the non-decanted wine was preferred but was still nobody’s favourite. The decanted four-hour wine was ‘stubborn’ said Wilkin. ‘It was like it had opened and gone back to sleep.’

Brook’s preference was for the one-hour wines and, of those, he most liked the decanted wine; he also liked both two-hour wines – as did Wilkin, but for different reasons. ‘On the decanted two-hour wine the acidity felt more refined, but on the non-decanted one I liked the acidity on the finish. It’s 50:50’

The just-opened wines had their charms too. Wilkin found the decanted wine ‘more open, settled and expressive, whereas the non-decanted wine was less floral, with a heavier nose’; Brook preferred the non-decanted wine. The main difference, said Basset, ‘was on the palate, not the nose, with the opened wine often being tighter’.

Henschke, Keyneton Estate Euphonium, Barossa 2010

‘A gorgeous wine,’ enthused Brook, ‘with eucalyptus freshness and great vibrancy. You could drink it now, because the tannins are so supple and it’s so well balanced, or you could keep it for another eight to 10 years.’ He said it seemed to have no adolescent awkwardness at all; far less puppy fat: ‘It’s like a racehorse!’

This wine was so consistent across the flight that the tasters had to resort to hair-splitting. ‘The decanted wines, as with the previous flight of Rhônes, had slightly more aroma and were slightly more open, but on the palate I struggled to find any significant differences,’ said Brook. ‘My scores were within a quarter of a point (/20) all the way through.’

He gave the edge to the two-hour decanted wine, but it was only an edge. Basset agreed: ‘The first pair (just opened) had a slightly hard edge, but after that they were equal. Two hours was the best, but not by much.’

Wilkin agreed that changes over time, such as they were, were more marked on the nose. The two-hour decanted wine was his favourite of the flight: ‘It showed more harmony on the palate. The two-hour, non-decanted wine was more stubborn.’

And at four hours the wine was still going strong although, as Brook pointed out, ‘there’s no real advantage to opening it four hours ahead’.

M Chapoutier, Monier de la Sizeranne, Hermitage 2007

An ‘ethereal’ wine, said Basset: ‘Mid-weight, showing some evolution, with lifted aromas of plum, jasmine and cherry.’ But to drink now or keep? Basset thought this 2007 could really be enjoyed now, or soonish – ‘It doesn’t have the power to keep for another 10 or 15 years.’

It also threw a spanner in the works as far as reaching tidy conclusions was concerned. Having mostly preferred the decanted wines in the first flight, everybody mostly liked the non-decanted versions of this vintage.

Wilkin ‘preferred the non-decanted on every count except for the four-hour pair’. Brook found that the two-hour wines were pretty close and ‘the fruit had darkened a bit on the nose. The one-hour wines showed more red fruit’. Of the two-hour wines he preferred the decanted, but that was the exception for him; and again, the four-hour wines got a general thumbs-down. ‘They were softer, and lacked energy,’ said Brook.

Why didn’t decanting flatter this wine? A general shrug followed this question. ‘If the producer was in the room,’ said Wilkin, ‘he might say, don’t decant the 2007, just open it.’

Brook added: ‘Decanting this vintage helps the aromas a bit, but there’s very little to gain from it.’ Basset added: ‘Maybe the ’07 has enough aroma, so it just doesn’t need decanting?’

Henschke, Keyneton Estate Euphonium, Barossa 2006

Basset felt this wine ‘hasn’t completely developed but it has some tertiary aromas; less fruit than the 2010 but lovely sweet spice’.

‘It’s comparable to the Hermitage 2007 in terms of development,’ added Wilkin, ‘though the Hermitage had more tertiary characters.’

As with the 2010, differences between the wines varied from small to non-existent. Wilkin found more evolution on the one-hour decanted compared to its twin, and more notable differences between the two-hour wines, with the non-decanted one being ‘more restrained on nose and palate, with the oak more dominant’.

At both two and four hours he preferred the decanted wines for their ‘meaty notes and more settled fruit’. Brook agreed there was a ‘savoury, meaty’ character at two hours, and more so at four hours. ‘I don’t mind that, but some may prefer the freshness of the one-hour wines.’

At one hour he also preferred the decanted wine: ‘It was more complex. The non-decanted wine had firmer tannins and a blunter finish.’ The non-decanted two-hour wine didn’t find much favour with anyone: ‘A bit tired,’ said Brook, ‘and without the length of the others.’

Overall, aeration gave a savoury character that may or may not be to some tastes, but such nuances would hardly show over dinner. Though four hours was a nuance too far for the wine.

M Chapoutier, Monier de la Sizeranne, Hermitage 2001

This would still keep for another three to five years but ‘it’s at its best now’ said Basset. Wilkin described it as having ‘lovely density, upfront ripeness and development of plum and prune. At this age you get expression of hay and molasses, which persists, plus garrigue notes and a rare meat element.’

Wilkin marginally preferred the opened wines, Brook and Basset the decanted ones, but the differences were not enormous – for Brook, a half a point maximum. ‘Where aeration helped was in rounding out the tannins and opening the aromas,’ he said.

‘Decanting improved the nose,’ said Basset, ‘but I’d have liked a bit more flesh on the palate, if I were to drink it without food. With food it would be wonderful.’

Wilkin agreed that decanting gave more tertiary development on the nose, but the decanted wines were more brittle. ‘On the non-decanted wines the fruit was softer and juicier, and the tannins were riper. I prefer the juiciness of the non-decanted bottles, and the expression on the nose of the decanted.’

But the surprise was how well this wine stood up to four hours: ‘Better than the younger wines,’ said Brook. ‘There was no flagging, and it still had tension and imposing tannins.’

Henschke, Keyneton Estate Euphonium, Barossa 2002

‘By waiting for this sort of maturity,’ said Brook, ‘you get more roundness. The wine is fleshy, but you lose a bit of vibrancy.’ With aeration ‘the structure is so tight, the acidity is so fine, that it’s difficult to do much wrong’. ‘Pretty bulletproof’ was Wilkin’s description.

For Basset, this was the first Henschke flight where he found marked differences, but still less than with the Hermitage. Wilkin said ‘The decanted wines were always more settled, but you lost some fruit on the palate. The non-decanted bottles had more core fruit and less cedary, tertiary aromas.’

Within that generally agreed formula, preferences were a question of personal taste. Brook liked it decanted at just-opened and one hour (‘you got more aromatic evolution without losing the sleek texture and fruit purity’) and not decanted thereafter, though he noted it ‘survived four hours effortlessly’.

Wilkin agreed, but was torn on the two-hour wines (‘same mark, different reasons’) and by four hours ‘they were losing a little fruit’. For Basset, one hour was the perfect time, and he had a slight preference for the decanted wine.

Would you decant this wine if it had no sediment? Brook’s preference was ‘pull the cork and drink’; Basset and Wilkin thought that if you decant late it will do no harm.

Methodology

There are two things to consider: how long to leave a wine in the decanter; and how decanting compares with simply opening the bottle. So we settled on four aeration times:

• four hours
• two hours
• one hour
• immediately before serving.

Two bottles of each wine were opened at each of these times; one was decanted, one not. The stoppers were not put back in.

The decanters, supplied by Riedel, were of a classic shape that exposes a large, but not exaggerated, surface to the air. The wines were kept all day in our air-conditioned tasting room, so were served at the same temperature as at all our tastings.

All were decanted by Gérard Basset (see video on Decanter.com) and were served in flights to a precise timetable, so the aeration times stayed accurate throughout.

The wines were not tasted blind. We departed from our usual practice here because we weren’t trying to determine which wines were best.

Wines opened just before the tasting, rather than an hour or more ahead, are referred to as ‘just-opened’, whether decanted or not. The wines that were opened but not decanted are referred to as ‘non-decanted’.

Conclusions

• Some aeration is usually better than none
• Decanting too early is worse than too late

Decanting one hour ahead is consistently good. Opening for two hours is not the same as decanting for one hour. Decanting two hours ahead can work well for younger wines. Longer decanting periods are risky, and the more evolved the wine, the greater the risk of oxidation in the decanter.

• Long aeration is not a substitute for bottle age: a long-decanted young wine will still be young, but tired
• Decanting then putting the stopper in the decanter can be a useful halfway house
• Very rich wines keep their freshness more by being opened and not decanted
• Very tight wines can open up with decanting
• Syrah and Shiraz show far greater consistency over different aeration times than Cabernet Sauvignon, and can stand up to long aeration much better:

The differences between decanted and non-decanted wines are small, especially compared with Cabernet Sauvignon. Decanting opens the nose, but you may lose fruit on the palate. For Rhône Syrahs, it may be better not to decant lighter, less muscular years. Aussie Shiraz (or at least this one) seems to be bomb-proof: decant or not, as you please

• Decanting is necessary for all but very young vintage Port, because of its sediment:

Very young vintage Port, drunk ‘on the fruit’, is better with less aeration. Decanting vintage Port makes it more aromatic; aroma is affected more than taste.

• Remember that the wine will continue to evolve as it circulates on the table

Compiled and edited for Decanter Premium by James Button.

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See Henschke's latest releases, plus some older surprises

This year, Henschke celebrate the 150th anniversary of the family’s first commercial release in 1868 – the perfect excuse to show rare museum classics as well as latest releases.

Sixth generation winemaker Johann Henschke, who returned to the fold in 2013, presented the wines at a recent tasting in London.

Scroll down to see Sarah’s tasting notes & scores

While Stephen Henschke stepped up to the chief winemaking role unexpectedly following the untimely death of his father, Cyril, Johann is working alongside parents Stephen and Prue towards a smooth transition, telling me that ‘I’m able to learn and make decisions with a safety net’.He added, ‘Dad has seen over 40 vintages now – the full set of what’s likely to happen.’Looking ahead, Johann will continue his parents’ exploration of so-called alternative varieties since, ‘if we sit on Shiraz in the Barossa, we may be missing something.

Describing it as ‘pretty incredible,’ he is excited by Nebbiolo’s ability to fully ripen at low alcohol into May, ‘during the dying gasps of Autumn.’ Watch this space…

Henschke basics to know:

Written by Antony Rose and originally published online in September 2016

Of Australia’s 21 most highly prized wines in the Langtons Classification of Australian wine, only the names of Henschke and Penfolds contribute more than one wine in the highest ‘Exceptional’ category.

In Henschke’s case, these are Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone Shiraz.

Both historic reds, of course, come from the Eden Valley vineyards, separating Henschke from the South Australian Shiraz mainstream in its unique combination of century-old vines, higher altitude and a climate that’s cooler than the broader and hotter Barossa Valley.

Yet while Henschke is synonymous with Eden Valley, the family has not kept all its eggs in one basket. For Henschke, the relatively cool Adelaide Hills to the southwest is a source of fine Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir.

It also produces dry whites made from Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and other varieties that go into the Tilly’s Vineyard blend. The Barossa Valley, to the northwest of Eden Valley, also plays a significant role in a number of its richer Shiraz and GSM blends.

The fifth generation winemaker-viticulturist couple of Stephen and Prue Henschke have been tireless in their promotion of the brand and their sustainable vineyard practices.

Henschke latest releases and some older surprises:

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Sarah Ahmed takes a look at the wines produced by this exciting collaboration, founded in 2006 in the Barossa Valley...

In 2006, New Zealander Chris Ringland founded North Barossa Vintners with fifth-generation grape grower Adrian Hoffmann and Nathan Burley, operations manager. The wines were labelled under Ringland’s eponymous brand, as his wines already enjoyed a hallowed reputation – with prices to match.

The source

He had known about the Hoffmann family’s 120ha vineyard holdings in Ebenezer since 1992, when he was making wine at Rockford. Situated on red-brown earth over limestone at the northern end of the Barossa Valley, the low yielding 30-130-year-old Shiraz vines produce fruit that plays into both Ringland and Hoffmann’s preferred style: ‘very concentrated but balanced, layered and textured’, according to Hoffmann.

Scroll down to see Sarah’s tasting notes & scores

Taking full advantage of the Barossa Valley’s warm, dry climate and high sunshine hours, Hoffmann (who makes all viticultural decisions) picks late for maximum flavour accumulation and palate weight. On paper, the resulting high alcohol levels of 15-18% look unwieldy but, whilst arguably passé, my top scoring wine from this tasting was the 18% 2009 Hoffmann Vineyard Shiraz, underscoring North Barossa Vintners’ trump card – balance.

Their stated aim is to make a Shiraz like no-one else in the world can, and they certainly seem to have achieved that goal here: as big-boned as they are densely concentrated, the ripe but powerful acid and tannin structure of these potent wines brings energy, definition and persistence. Save for the 2008 Hoffmann Vineyard Shiraz, there was little evidence of raisining or viscosity.

Flagships

Built to age for decades, the premium-level Hoffmann Vineyard Shiraz and Dimchurch Shiraz are both barrel selections drawn from several different plots, delivered to the winery in five separate parcels throughout the harvest. They spend six and four years respectively in new French oak barrels, and ultimately the 20 barrels will be reduced to the best four before being blended and then bottle-aged for up to three years.With depth over amplitude – a vertiginous quality – the profile of these wines is surprisingly dry and firm with tremendous length, especially the monumental flagship, Hoffmann Vineyard Shiraz. While the Dimchurch Shiraz is similarly substantial, extended barrel maturation imparts a mellowness to its relatively fruit-forward character – the 2010 and 2012 have a Rioja-like touch of complexing oxidation.

The rest of the range

Released earlier in its lifespan, North Barossa Vintners Shiraz 2014 is sourced from Hoffman’s vineyards, as well as from neighbouring growers. It spends less time in wood than the premium range and correspondingly shows brighter, plusher fruit.

Maiden releases Limit Lodge Grenache 2014 and Limit Lodge Mataro 2012 are intriguing alternative varietals sourced from Hoffmann’s Dimchurch vineyard, and are already showing plenty of promise.

Still, compact and densely layered with a bottomless pit of fruit, North Barossa Vintners’ range rewards patience, and these wines may well warrant higher scores as they unfurl to reveal more of themselves.

If you’re tempted to broach them early, Ringland recommends decanting six to eight hours in advance to allow the wines to open up, while Hoffmann’s tip is ‘go horizontal….sup it over three days.’ I’m inclined to agree – despite brawny first impressions, these are detailed wines for contemplation.

Sarah’s North Barossa Vintners tasting notes & scores:

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Wolf Blass chief winemaker Chris Hatcher was recently in town to celebrate 50 years of the brand and also the 40th vintage of Wolf Blass Black Label. Decanter.com went along to meet him.

Chris Hatcher joined Australian wine giant Wolf Blass in 1987 as senior winemaker for white and sparkling wines and made the step up to chief winemaker in 1996.

‘Hatch’ has been responsible for numerous awards for both the Wolf Blass range and achieved many accolades personally.

His insight into the Wolf Blass history, winemaking changes over the decades and Wolf Blass the man himself made Hatcher the perfect host to take us through a vertical of Black Label.

See our favourite Wolf Blass Black Label vintages from this vertical tasting

The beginning

German-born Wolfgang Franz Otto Blass set up his eponymous brand in Australia in 1966.

In 1973, ‘Wolfy’ created the first vintage of Black Label, by cross blending his best barrels of Grey Label to make a new, premium wine.

There was immediate success with the first three vintages; 1973, 1974 and 1975 all winning the celebrated Jimmy Watson Trophy.

This is the only time a wine has achieved a hat trick in the history of the competition.

With only two bottles left of the 1973, we started our tasting with the 1974, of which there a six bottles left in Wolf Blass’ possession.

Wolf Blass Black Label Blend

‘Blends of the Black Label change every year to try and ensure consistency of the style Wolfy originally created,’ Hatcher told us.

‘Soft tannins and a plush mid palate… Wolfy always thought that a wine should be ready to drink when they are sold.’

The 1998 is a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas the 2002 is made up of 53% Shiraz, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec.

‘We’ve started adding Malbec into the blend as it really adds something… but it only ripens properly in the best years’ Hatcher told us. Volumes also vary although it is ‘generally around 2,000 cases’.

Other changes in the wine style have seen a move away from American oak which ‘Wolf used to get sweetness on the palate,’ Hatcher told us.

‘Today we get it from the fruit’, with higher use in French oak and second fill barrels. Hatcher put this down to the ‘change in viticulture’ – the quality of grapes are now much higher than in the 70’s due to advances in viticultural practices, illustrated by the move from ‘farmers to viticulturists’.

The 2002 vintage was the first experiment under stelvin; it was bottled half under cork and under screw cap.

Hatcher was a clearly huge fan of screwcap pointing to the bottle variation in the older wines. Two of the 1974 were served as an illustration; in a blind tasting, you would have serious trouble pointing to them as the same wine.

Current vintages can be bought at around £60 per bottle in the UK or $70 in the US, with back vintages coming up at auction for around the same price.

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Prince Charles visits Barossa Valley:

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, have stopped off in Barossa to taste the local Australian wine while on a tour of the region.

Charles, who once had his Aston Martin converted to run on biofuel made from wine, visited Seppeltsfield winery in Barossa Valley after flying into Adelaide from the UK.

Camilla is known to take an interest in wine has visited several English vineyards nearer home, as well as opening a £2m English wine research centre in southern England last year.

The couple toured Seppeltsfield and visited the ‘centennial cellar’, which holds a barrel of every ‘Tawny’ vintage from every year since 1878.

They also tasted the 100-year-old Para Vintage Tawny 1915, as well as small samples of Tawny – Australia’s version of Port – from their own birth years. It’s a tour that normally costs A$100 (£46.50) per person.

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Seppeltsfield has also christened two commemorative birth year barrels for Prince George and Princess Charlotte, Charles’ grandchildren and the children of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Not everyone in Australia is likely to be so pleased about Seppeltsfield’s gestures to British Royalty, given the political debate in the country about whether the Queen should continue as Australia’s head of state.

But, the tour is being seen a welcome publicity boost for Australian wine, and for Barossa in particular, at a time when winemaker profits continue to be under pressure in many cases.

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See the wines Decanter's team has been tasting over the past week, including Brunello di Montalcino 2010, Barossa Shiraz and a Tuscan 100% Merlot and Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc.

It’s been another whirlwind week of tasting for Decanter’s editorial team including a large Bordeaux 2013 tasting in London. Here’s what else we’ve been drinking:

• Lamaione, Tenuta di CastelGiocondo, Toscana IGT, Italy 2011
  

This went brilliantly with a heartily flavoured primi piatti of mushroom risotto with lashings of black truffles. Grown on clay, this 100% Merlot is sumptuously upholstered with rippling tannins, creamy texture and intense coffee bean, damson and plum fruit. (John Stimpfig, content director) £48 Fintry Wines

• Langmeil Orphan Bank Shiraz, Barossa, South Australia 2012
  

Wine Australia runs a monthly blind tasting club for wine professionalsand this wine stood out in a flight of Shiraz this month – bursting with red berry and plum fragrance, and a hint of earthiness, it was fresh and yet ripe. Produced after 10 rows of Shiraz planted pre-1860 were saved from the developer’s bulldozer. (Amy Wislocki, managing editor) £35 Berkmann

• San Pedro, Gato Negro Carmenère, Central Valley, Chile 2013

From its deep purple hue and its dark fruit and tobacco nose to its soft yet powerful texture on the palate, this is a great value, food friendly wine. Look out for notes of green pepper and liquorice, as well as lots of spice and herbs (Sylvia Wu, editor of DecanterChina.com). Winetransit.com (New York, US) $5.99 Gold medal winner at DWWA 2014

• Lanson, Extra Age Brut, Champagne, France NV

A Lanson release which only uses fruit from Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards from the best years, it’s a blend of 40% Chardonnay & 60% Pinot Noir and was spotted at a well-known supermarket by my sister. This Champagne has much more depth than the straight NV; with citrus fruit, pears, honey, fresh bread and developing notes – yet with a wonderful freshness. This was a great find and fantastic value if you line it up against it’s other NV piers (Harry Fawkes, digital publisher). Total Wine (US) $99.99 / £54.99 Ocado

• Altesino, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2010

We’d heard whispers of good things from the 2010 vintage and we wanted something to go with a great lamb roast. This Brunello was great value for money, clean and fresh with bright flavours of red cherry, mineral, leather and earth. Pretty serious stuff with a long steely finish. Really showed the step up from entry Chianti Classico to Brunello di Montalcino. Can’t wait to see the results to the Decanter Brunello 2010 panel tasting, if this is anything to go by, it should be a good one (HF). $44.99 Zachys (NY) / £24.99 Roberson Wine

• Oldenburg Vineyards, Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2014

Oldenburg in its present form is less than a decade old, with propietor Adrian Vanderspuy overseeing vineyard re-planting from 2003 onwards. This Chenin was great as an aperitif at 1:54’s Contemporary African Art fair in London – it has ripe peach and apricots on the nose, with notes of vanilla, honey and also a slightly herbaceous character. There is a bolt of acidity on the palate, with citrus, pineapple and a touch of marzipan towards the finish (Chris Mercer, editor Decanter.com). £15.95 Berry Bros & Rudd

Stockist details aided by Wine-Searcher.com.