95 POINTS // $50
Orlando
Steingarten
Riesling 2020
Lemon and lime are the resolute themes here, evolving ever so slowly to butter and toast, holding outstanding poise and enduring potential. The tension of cool, high Eden sites trumps even a warmer vintage, brimming with energy and electric drive.
95 POINTS // $80
ST HUGO
SINGLE VINEYARD
KOCH
Shiraz 2016
Deep-set black fruits and spice are framed in gloriously fine-grained tannins of profound persistence. There’s an enduring confidence to these 1921 vines on the banks of Jacob’s Creek, with the resilience to uphold 100% new French oak and 12% whole bunches.
94 POINTS // $58
St Hugo
Barossa
Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2022
The cool 2022 season has given birth to a blend of lifted violet and rose petal fragrance, enticing dark berry fruit allude and intricately textured, fine-grained tannins. I love the way old and new unite seamlessly here. From 70% of Grenache vines more than 100 years of age, with a small portion fermented in a Cocciopesto amphora! It’s impeccable, ageworthy and downright delicious. Ageworthy, too!
94 POINTS // $80
ST HUGO
SINGLE VINEYARD
FABAL
Shiraz 2018
There’s a wonderful blueberry and blackberry mood from the outset, well tensioned by a confident tannin framework that promises a long future. The gloriously glossy, deep, black mood of Greenock is intricately and carefully framed by new French oak (40%) and a touch of whole bunch inclusion.
94 POINTS // $75
Charles Melton
Sparkling Red
2022 Disgorgement
There’s a wonderful complexity to this wine that reflects the depth of anise and mixed spice and the supple and silky mood of the Barossa. A blend of mostly Shiraz, with a little Cabernet, Grenache and a drop of Riesling from the 2019, 2018 and 2017 vintages, it brims with spicy berry fruits of all kinds, tangy plums and fresh cherries. Plump and friendly fruit is perfectly pitched for sparkling, with fine tannins and generous dosage perfectly tuned.
97 POINTS // $950
Henschke
Hill of Grace 2018
Hill of Grace 2018 carries the theme of the warmer vintages of recent times, infusing a core of crunchy and tangy yet supple and succulent blackberry and plum fruit concentration, graced with fragrant, rose petal lift, and the five spice and supple, silky tannin texture that characterise this fabled site. Framed in a beautifully composed structure of firm, fine texture and lively acid poise, it holds impressive persistence and longevity. There is perhaps no harder act that a wine could live up to than to immediately follow 26 of its finest vintages spanning the full 60 years of its history, yet this was my first introduction to the Hill of Grace that celebrates 150 years of Henschke family winemaking. Another monumental wine from this ancient and fabled vineyard.
97 POINTS // $200
Wolf Blass
Platinum Label Medlands Vineyard
Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021
The cool, classic brightness of the late 2021 harvest transports the Medlands vineyard to a wonderful place of purity and poise. There’s a distinctive presence and density to this site, first planted in 1882 at Dorrien in the heart of the Barossa floor, infusing a deep black fruit and liquorice profile that enjoys the natural acid lift of this season. It’s set off expertly with dark chocolate French oak, polishing a tannin profile rigid yet emphatically fine structure that will sustain it for decades.
96 POINTS // $455
Henschke
Hill of Roses Eden Valley Shiraz 2018
Fruit, tannins and acidity work in tandem to define a baby Hill of Grace of incredible focus and linearity. A rivetingly compact and determined Shiraz with a focused core of black fruits, liquorice and nuances of thyme and sage, with the grace that defines this historic place.
96 POINTS // $100
Saltram
No 1 Shiraz 2016
No 1 simmers under the surface with depth of black fruits, liquorice and dark chocolate oak that barely breaks the surface. A brace of fantastic, firm, fine tannins draw out a very long and confident finish. The outstanding 2016 season has given birth to an excitingly coiled and reticent Barossa Shiraz, still incredibly backward at a full seven years of age. One of the greats, but it will take 20 years to fully reveal itself.
95 POINTS // $500
Penfolds
II Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2019
The tension, focus and rigid framework of Bordeaux are fleshed out with the body of Barossa Shiraz, without in any way diminishing the linear drive and confident tannin web that promise a future of Penfolds proportions. The great Australian blend goes global! Super high class new French and American oak. Patience.
95 POINTS // $245
Henschke
Mount Edelstone 2018
The ripeness of the 2018 season builds depth of blackberry and satsuma plum fruit presence, set against liquorice and dark chocolate, without diminishing the unique character of this site in nuances of sage and black pepper. Well scaffolded by beautifully composed, fine-grained tannins, it concludes with impressive poise, line and great persistence. The effortless confidence of 106 year old vines infuses a seamless stature and silky graciousness in this legendary site.
94 POINTS // $20
Leo Buring
Eden Valley Riesling 2022
The poise and purity of this impressively poised season is enticingly expressed in accurate lemon blossom, granny smith apple and lime fruit, following a precise vector of grand persistence and pristine youthful energy. Fantastic concentration and drive, promising great potential.
94 POINTS // $50
Yalumba
Paradox Shiraz 2018
A core of blackberries and satsuma plums is well backed by spice, even a touch of greengage plum tang that offers zing and brightness. Fine tannins and well-integrated dark chocolate oak draw out a long finish. The attentiveness of the Yalumba team to balance and perfect ripeness in the vines is exemplified here even, and especially, in the warm 2018 harvest.
93 POINTS // $25
Turkey Flat Vineyards
Barossa Valley White 2022
The tang, crunch and tension of carefully managed viticulture mark out a long and enduring finish, promising great things when its disparate elements converge in time. A courageous and daring explosion of flavour and structure, this is a white blend that unashamedly basks in the lift of gunpowder reduction, the grip of extended skin contact and the aromas and flavours of new and second use oak maturation.
93 POINTS // $45
Grant Burge
Filsell Shiraz 2019
A credit to the mastery of winemaker Craig Stansborough and his team, this is a beautifully crafted Filsell that presents an impeccably balanced and alluring take on the warm 2019 season, delivering black and red fruit depth amidst liquorice and spice, well supported by milk and dark chocolate oak and intricately integrated tannins.
93 POINTS // $50
Yalumba
The Virgilius 2020
A generous and characterful vintage for The Virgilius draws out all the apricot, custard apple, grapefruit and apricot kernel of Viognier and sets it firmly in the biscuity, nutty, spicy spectrum and creamy, custardy texture of wild fermentation and 10 months maturation in French oak barriques and puncheons. Phenolic grip brings bite to a long finish. A vintage ready to drink right away.
92 POINTS // $25
Turkey Flat Vineyards
Butchers Block Shiraz 2021
A core of satsuma plum skin and blackberries is lifted by the exotic spice of 15 per cent whole bunches. A vibrant and dark colour is the first sign of greatness in this cool and classic season. Finely textured tannins weave seamlessly with tangy, well-poised, citrusesque acidity with a confidence rarely seen at this price. And a longevity, too. Patience.
91 POINTS // $25
Peter Lehmann
H&V Hill & Valley
Eden Valley Riesling 2022
An elegant vintage in Eden Valley, in a refreshing style for drinking now or holding for the medium-term. Cool season hallmarks of lime and granny smith apple are here in abundance, with a bright natural acid line softened by a light touch (4.3g/L) of residual sugar.
90 POINTS // $28
Sons of Eden
Marschall Shiraz 2020
The density of the Barossa arises in a confident wave of spicy blackberries and black plums, even a touch of mulberry exoticism, bathed in soft tannins and glossy milk chocolate oak. This makes for a succulent style, ready to drink now.
89 POINTS // $24
St Hallett
Faith Shiraz 2021
The great, cool 2021 season has drawn out a beautifully pure and refined Faith, with more spice, crunchy berry fruit and greengage plum than ever. Fine-grained tannins mark out a finish of medium length. A tangy quaffer.