Benjamin Leroux
Chris Ringland Dry Grown Barossa Ranges Shiraz
Chris Ringland's Barossa Ranges Shiraz is steeped in the Barossas post-colonial story and the high art and science of winemaking. Typically deep in colour with intense dark berry, paneforte, espresso roasted chestnut aromas, it displays a plush and concentrated palate with blackberry, mocha, paneforte spicy flavours and dense fine chocolaty tannins. Despite the opulence, flamboyance, richness and concentration, the wine has superb percussion and freshness. The wine is a small vinification of around four to five hogsheads or 1500 litres. The "unusually thick skinned" Shiraz is entirely sourced from Chris Ringland's dry-grown vineyard on the edge of the Barossa Valley, but technically in Eden Valley, along Flaxman's Valley near Randall's Hill. The wine is "painstakingly hand-made" in open fermenters and regularly pumped-over to extract colour, flavour and tannins. After draining and pressing through a traditional basket press, fermentation is completed in 100% new French oak hogsheads. A period of up to 50 months oak maturation follows to achieve optimum complexity and balance between oak and fruit. The extraordinarily high release prices (higher than Penfolds Grange), limited production and reputation make Chris Ringland Barossa Ranges Shiraz the stuff of legend.
Bouchard Pere & Fils Grand Cru
Bouchard owns two parcels at the top and bottom of the famed walled vineyard, although presently their Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru comes from the top part, as the bottom has been pulled up. This part of this famous, 50 hectare walled vineyard tends to produce the best wine that have Grand Cru concentration and structure.
Levantine Hill Optume Shiraz
Levantine Hill Optume Yarra Valley Shiraz Made from 100% Shiraz from parcels selected by Paul Bridgeman, the wine is entirely matured in French oak (29% of which is new). The wine lands at 13.5% abv and has some weight to it but the vintage shows in the finesse of the wine as does Bridgemans finesse. Theres a brooding element to the nose in dried figs, dark spice and a slight edge of white pepper. The palate has a slow and steady pace that ebbs the flooding tide of dark flavours. Decant well or cellar for 15+ years. Explore Levantine Hill
Torbreck The Forebear
Maker: Torbreck is a winery on a mission to become one of the world's great wine brands. Since 1994, they have remained committed to creating exceptional Rhone-style red and white wines that reflect the very best vineyards in Australia's famous Barossa region. Provenance is everything to them, and they believe that the Barossa is the most exciting place to make wine in the world. With a European sense of tradition, Torbreck pays tribute to the vineyards with minimal intervention, creating wines of richness, structure and length that age gracefully. The multi-generational growers, whose descendants arrived here nearly two centuries ago, are the backbone of Torbreck's winemaking aspirations. They work in partnership with the people of the Barossa who grow their fruit, always aiming to get the very best out of their vineyard sites. At Torbreck, they constantly seek to understand the difference between all of these special places in the Barossa and how this combination of soil, climate and farming experience is reflected in unique grape flavours. They are simply custodians, enhancing the innate expressiveness of the wines and enabling them to reveal over time their individual origins and personality. Torbreck is actually named after the forest near Inverness, Scotland where the winery's founder, David Powell worked as a lumberjack after completing university studies. Vineyard: The growing season was defined by a continuously warm to hot summer with no effective rainfall, wind and hail at flowering, and followed with three major frosts - resulting in an earlier and much smaller harvest than average. These tough conditions produced smaller clusters of intensely dark berries with thick fleshy skins contrasted against brown mature stalks. Whilst yields were down, once these vineyards were fermenting in our cellar the concentration of colour, tannin and aroma of the 2019 vintage was revealed. Wine style/Cuvee: Chief Winemaker, Ian Hongell, explains "we chose the name 'The Forebear' to honour the pioneering spirit of the Springbetts and other pioneering families and their role in establishing the Barossa as of the great winegrowing regions of the world. This wine is our tribute to those who came before us." The vines are from an ancient Heritage clone originally brought from Europe as cuttings and planted before the discovery of Phylloxera. These ancestor vines (125+ years old) are embedded in soils of sand over deep loam and red clay. The Forebear is crafted from the original 12 rows of ancient Shiraz vines planted by the Springbett family (1849) which represent an irreplaceable link to the early history of the Barossa as a viticultural treasure from the first generation of European settlers. They are Torbreck’s oldest collection of vines from any single plot. The cooler evening breezes that flow through the southern end of the Barossa produce an elegant style of Shiraz that is regarded for its distinctive aromatic, lifted floral notes and red fruit flavours, across a medium weight line intertwined with subtle rounded tannins. The core of red berry fruit and texture derived from these very old and gnarly vines produce an unmistakable degree of finesse and complexity that was calling out to bottled as a single site expression, and a reflection of place. Torbreck chief winemaker Ian Hongell and viticulturist Nigel Blieschke, who have driven this project since 2014, were firm in their belief that this vineyard had a rightful place in Torbreck’s pursuit of single-site wines of significance and pedigree. Shiraz comes from the Hillside Vineyard, planted c.1850. It undergoes 24 months in new French oak barriques (Troncais). Deep crimson with brilliant hue. A wine of poise and nobility from some of the world’s oldest living Shiraz vines. A complex nose of mostly red berry fruits such as red currant, red cherry and cassis fill the bouquet, complimented by savoury notes of wild thyme, garrigue, graphite, and sandalwood. The palate carries a wonderful textural mouthfeel with enveloping soft, round tannins and cleansing acidity that balance the wines modern Barossa elegance with the power of the harvest from extremely low yielding vines. A wine that pays homage to its forebears and their vision for grape growing and dry farming from the 19th century. Enjoy from 2026 and cellar to 2050+. Tasting: Aroma - Complex, Redcurrant, Ironstone Predominately red berry fruits, then cassis and savoury garrigue, wild thyme and sandalwood. Palate - Blood plum, Mulberry, Sumac Typical Barossan feel, ample but fresh. Baking spice, awash with dark fruits, a lick of aniseed, and forest accents. Finish - Chewy, Exotic Spices, Peppercorns Superb finish, long and with plenty of chewy tannin and flavour to sink your teeth into.
Clarendon Hills Astralis Syrah
Clarendon Hills is the living vision of one of the world's greatest Shiraz winemakers, Roman Bratasiuk. The dream was realised in 1990 and is now home to some of the most outstanding and hard to get single vineyard wines in Australia. The Astralis is the flagship wine in the Clarendon Hills portfolio, and while this vineyard is not treated any differently to the others, it garners the most worldwide attention due to its incredible expression and timeless elegance. From an Easterly aspect and planted on a 45 degree ascending slope, Australis has phenomenal varietal length and will repay the patient cellarer for more than 15 years.
Guigal La Turque Côte Rôtie
The 2001 La Turque is a vineyard-designated wine from a parcel inside the lieu-dit Côte Brune. It is a blend of 93% Syrah and 7% Vigonier. Meaty and rich, laced with Asian spice, espresso, blackberries, and cherry. An earthy, powerful, tannic wine with a long, heady, rich finish. Give it at lease 2-5 years in the cellar, and drink before 2040. One of the finest wines in Dan Murphy's Cellar Release Range.
Guigal La Mouline Côte Rôtie
Guigal are one of the cornerstones of the Côte Rôtie appellation after Etienne Guigal founded the estate in 1946, tending vines that have produced world class wines for over 2,000 years. The 2005 Côte Rôtie is a blend of 89% Syrah and 11% Viognier is a truly remarkable wine from vintage that was considered difficult by many. That is impossible to tell when enjoying a bottle of this 100 Robert Parker pointed Côte Rôtie that is voluptuous and complex. Still tightly wound and a little shy, the 2005 will age easily for 20+ years which should be considered mandatory.
Château Tertre Roteboeuf Saint-Émilion
Château Tertre Roteboeuf may have a quirky sounding name that at first has no connection to grand wines of Saint-Émilion, yet the wines produced here of utmost elegance, purity and not surprising for Saint-Émilion, plushness. With the blend consisting of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, Roteboeuf's wines are smooth, voluptuous and with tannins that are attractively loose-knit. The 1990 is a vintage for the ages and has proven to be one of the great cellaring vintages as well. Already 20 years in the bottle has not turned down the volume on this remarkable right bank Bordeaux.
Bouchard Pere & Fils Le Corton Grand Cru
Bouchard Pere and Fils is the largest vineyard owner of grands crus and premiers crus in Burgundy. Corton is the only red Grand Cru in the Cote D'Or.