SUMMER 2025/26 WINE REVIEWS by Tyson Stelzer
99 POINTS // $850
Torbreck
The Laird
2020
There’s an inimitable uniqueness to these grand old vines on this unique place in Marananga, creating a singularity of character and concentration, even in a vintage as challenging as 2020. The ironstone of these ancient soils sets a structure and complexity of profound and compelling focus. I love its structure of supple, textural mouthfeel, thanks to tannins that embrace the confidence of vines more than a century and a half old!
95 POINTS // $115
Krondoff
121
Settlers
Old Vine Shiraz 2021
After the coolest summer since 2002, Stephen and Prue Henschke consider 2021 a standout vintage of the decade, likening it with mild seasons like ’86, ’02, ’05 and ’15. I love the effortless, understated calm that it projects amidst profound concentration, heightened exoticism and mesmerising line. The exotic five spice signature of this revered site is more characterful than ever. These grand old vines set a texture so supple it’s silky; its impossibly fine tannins at once caressing yet enduring, carrying a finish unrelenting for more than a minute. True Grace in every sense.
95 POINTS // $60
Kaesler
The Fave
Grenache 2023
From the favourite Grenache vineyard of the estate, planted in 1930, this is a vintage that captures for lifted fragrance of a cool season, heightened by the spice of whole bunch fermentation. I love its tangy core of red berries and the fine-grained texture created by careful treatment: wild fermentation, punching down, pumping over and long skin contact. The result takes Kaesler to new heights of eloquence and sophistication.
95 POINTS // $60
Dandelion Vineyards
Wonderland of the Eden Valley
Riesling 2024
Planted in 1912, Colin Kroehn tended his Eden Valley Riesling for 66 of his 86 years. He would have been mighty proud of this vintage, exemplifying the crystalline energy and the varietal precision of Riesling, while lacking nothing in concentration or personality. These old vines have infused heightened power, while cold nights have sustained magnificent acid drive that promises decades of endurance.
94 POINTS // $40
Mecklen
Grenache Shiraz
2024
Mecklen is an exciting new name with a deep history. This blend brings together talented former Jacob’s Creek Chief Winemaker Bernard Hickin’s two personal vineyards, uniting 68 per cent Grenache from vines more than 100 years of age in Cockatoo Valley with Shiraz from Gomersal. The bright, juicy red fruits of Grenache are well expressed in the cool 2024 season, skilfully melded with the black fruits and fine tannin structure of Shiraz. The result is classy and considered.
93 POINTS // $30
Eden Hall
Springton
Eden Valley Shiraz 2022
I admire the bright acidity, fine-grained, mineral tannins and classic restraint achieved in this lofty Springton vineyard in the cool 2022 harvest. Nurturing these vines to full ripeness was the correct decision, setting a core of blackberries, blueberries, black cherries and satsuma plums of impressive density, yet ever bright and fragrant with violet and sarsaparilla aromas. Dark chocolate oak has been perfectly played by Phil Lehmann. The result is graceful, ageworthy and impressively affordable.
93 POINTS // $120
Heirloom Vineyards
A'Lambra
Barossa Shiraz 2023
Heirloom’s flagship captures the depth of colour and intensity of black fruits that we love of the Barossa, sensitively toned with the finely textured tannin structure that maker Elena Brooks crafts so convincingly, lifted with the brightness of the cool 2023 harvest. It’s perfectly composed for the cellar. Give it at least a decade.
93 POINTS // $27
Turkey Flat Vineyards
Rosé
2025
After 30 years of refinement, even the hot and dry 2025 season could not thwart the delicate aromatics and graceful elegance of Turkey Flat Rosé! Its pretty, pale salmon-pink hue is unwavering, as is its fragrant air of rose petals, strawberries, pomegranates and morello cherries. I love the way it unites soft fruitiness with gentle phenolics, vibrant acidity and subtle, enticing texture.
92 POINTS // $35
Bosward
Barossa Valley Shiraz
2024
Reid Bosward (of Kaesler fame) has put his own name to a label for the first time and it’s no surprise that Shiraz is the best of his new Barossa stable. Maturation in old oak upholds the purity of fruit from three growers at Tanunda and Bethany, accented with the bright tang of the cool 2024 season. It’s well composed, finely structured and great value.
92 POINTS // $50
Paisley
Maeve
Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021
Paisley’s flagship hails from a single vineyard that expresses the generosity and supple mood of the northern Barossa. Depth of colour and black fruits denote a style of ripeness, confidently supported by the dark chocolate and coffee bean complexity of oak maturation.
96 POINTS // $275
Henschke Mount Edelstone Eden Valley Shiraz 2021
The cool 2021 season has produced a fragrant, detailed and graceful Mount Edelstone from these 109-year-old vines. A core of blackberry, blueberry and plum fruit carries subtle nuances of bay leaf and cedar, traced by impeccably fine-grained, supple tannins that support a grand finish of seamless line and enduring persistence. This makes for a vintage of enticing poise from the outset, with a long and distinguished future before it.
96 POINTS // $58
Pewsey Vale The Contours 10 Year Museum Release Eden Valley Riesling 2015
From vines of 50 years of age in 2015, on the coolest slopes of the legendary Pewsey Vale Vineyard, perched high in the Eden Valley, this is a brilliant Riesling that stands as a grand testimony to the remarkable endurance of this variety. I love its evolution to a place of deep toast and honey, while perfectly upholding preserved citrus, thanks to the sustaining endurance of a crystalline stream of cool acidity. Exceptional line and length set this apart among the greatest.
95 POINTS // $80
Spinifex Indigene 2022
While it’s labelled Mataro Shiraz, the story here is all about Barossa Valley Mataro planted in 1926, which has risen to 90 per cent of the blend in 2022. It’s an astute evolution to this blend, because the confidence, endurance and refreshing brightness and harmony of Mataro in this cool season is something to behold. I love its seamless accord between black fruit depth, vibrant acidity and mineral-fine tannin confidence, conspiring to define a tremendous future!
95 POINTS // $52
Glaetzer Anaperenna Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
Long a benchmark of Shiraz Cabernet blends, Anaperenna exemplifies the plush Shiraz-led style of the northern Barossa. From old Ebenezer vines of 30 to 130 years of age, deep wells of glossy black fruits are granted just the right amount of tension and structure by 18 per cent Cabernet and the dark chocolate allure of new French oak. Classic Glaetzer polish completes an enticingly approachable blend.
95 POINTS // $125
Elderton Ashmead Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
Cabernet loves the Barossa’s cooler seasons, and Brock Harrison has crafted one of Elderton’s finest yet, from a tiny parcel of 1940s Nuriootpa vines, thankfully narrowly escaping a vine pull in the 1990s. I love its varietal definition of crunchy red and blackcurrants, and the way its tangy acidity meshes seamlessly with fine-grained fruit tannins and high cocoa dark chocolate French oak. A cellaring special!
94 POINTS // $100
Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2023
A wet and stormy growing season transitioned to favourable harvest conditions with cool nights, setting a contrast between vibrant acidity and the structural grip of firm fruit and oak tannins. The classic milk and dark chocolate and dark berry fruits of Marananga are impressively prominent here, and sit comfortably in a confident acid and tannin scape. A great vintage, crafted in the classic Penfolds mould for the long haul.
94 POINTS // $71
Hentley Farm The Old Legend Grenache 2023
There’s a lush, plush, sweet berry fruits mood to Seppeltsfield that loves the brightness, fragrant lift and detail of the mild 2023 season. It’s been sensitively presented with just the right amount of whole bunch exoticism and understated, old French oak. The result is a gorgeous and cuddly Barossa Grenache that brims with strawberries, rhubarb and Red Rippers, set to enticingly fine tannins that direct a long and graceful finish.
94 POINTS // $70
Teusner Albert Barossa Valley Shiraz 2022
From two vineyards in Koonunga and Marananga of 40 and 55-year-old vines, this is a beautifully crafted Shiraz that delivers the glossy, black fruit depth and supple texture of the Barossa, the brightness of a cool season and the detail and seamless grace that set apart Kym Teusner’s craft. High class French oak has been strategically deployed to elevate dark chocolate and resolve fine-grained tannins.
93 POINTS // $85
St Hugo Single Vineyard Fabal Shiraz 2018
The supple mood of Greenock Shiraz holds impressive poise and freshness at this age, even in the warm 2018 season. A core of blueberry and satsuma plum is accented with liquorice and dark chocolate, holding impressive length and regional distinctiveness.
92 POINTS // $40
Yalumba Vine Vale Grenache 2024
Vines planted in 1929 and 1949 in Vine Vale have united in the cool 2024 season to create a textbook Barossa Grenache that sings with all the rhubarb, wild strawberries and spice that we love of this variety. Finely textured tannins complete a bright finish, at once enticing and enduring.