Coming from one of the best vintages in recent Barossa history, the Old Block from St Hallett shows what careful vineyard management can do for a wine. Rich, dark and conerntrated but with seamless tannin intergration.

The Glaetzer family have been part of the Barossa winemaking scene since 1888 and now Ben takes over the reigns and produces Shiraz of the utmost intensity and concentration. Named after the ancient Egyptian god Amon-Ra who was the champion of the poor and troubled and was central to personal piety, the temple of Amon-Ra is believed to be the first to plant a vineyard to produce wine for the citizens of the temple. This incarnation is rich, full-bodied and viscous to the palate, yet with sublime oak integration and a balance on the back palate that is quite lifted allowing it to be paired with many meals and a prime candidate for medium to long term cellaring.

Torbreck's Woodcutter's Shiraz is produced from hand-tended low-yielding vines. Bold and hearty it shows ripe sweet fruit flavours with supple tannins. Has quickly become a firm favourite of all the full-bodied Barossa red wine lovers out there.

The Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz is a relatively new addition to the Penfolds stable, sourced from the Barossan sub-district, Marananga. Simply a revelation, this wine is an inky, black beast in the glass with lashings of dark chocolate and coffee accented fruit, yet this years offering shows a lingering, soft structured finish that will see the wine cellar very nicely.

Righteous to be called a true Barossa Shiraz; Teusner FG Shiraz is bold, packed with intense black fruits, mocha and sweet spices on the nose. Great balance in oak use, giving the wine structured tannins and extra vanilla oak flavour as the back bone on the palate. Hand picked grapes from one of the oldest vines in Barossa. This is certainly one of those wines that could impress!

St Hallett Old Block Shiraz, first vintage 1980, is a stalwart of the Barossa and a stalwart of Langton's Classification of Australian Wine. A blend of oldvine Shiraz (average age 90 years) from key sites in the Barossa and Eden Valleys, Old Block is one of Barossas finest.

One of the benchmarks of Barossa Shiraz, Peter Lehmann's Stonewell is a classic example of the rich concentrated old vine style. While bold on the palate, there is always an inherent complexity to the Stonewell that enables it to be compared with all of the great Australian wines produced today.

On the nose, we find a broad depth of dark and red fruits, concentrated plums and blackberry supported by a backbone of elegant oak with underlying nuances of cedar and spice. Fruit carries through on the palate with luscious berry fruits and graphite, with amazing structure from the red clay soil. Fine, velvety tannins carry through on the lengthy finish. Will benefit from decanting. Drinks well now, or will benefit from cellaring for a further 10 plus years.

By 1850, Krondorf village comprised 121 Settlers and their families. These 121 souls formed the beginning of a new community that shaped the future of the Barossa Valley. Their spirit is remembered through the rare, meticulously selected old vines, with the 2021 vintage hand crafted from a single vineyard in the Southern Barossa with an average vine age of 60 years. With a minimalist approach to winemaking, gentle pigeage is used to extract tannins then it’s matured in premium French oak barrels for a period of 18 months. This richly textured Shiraz gives lifted and concentrated aromatics of dark plum and blackberry fruit, with complex spicy oak notes from new and seasoned French oak hogsheads. The palate shows incredible depth and intensity, the oak giving balance to the strong core of dark fruit. Graphite, aniseed and chocolate round out the palate. Approachable in the short to mid-term, but also a strong candidate for long-term cellaring.