Thorn Clarke Shotfire Barossa Quartage
The 2015 Shotfire Quartage is comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot. These are the classic grapes of France’s Bordeaux region, but this is definitely a Barossa wine – there’s no mistaking those intense, ripe fruit flavours. The fruit comes from three of Thorn Clarke's prime Barossa vineyards: St Kitts in the northern part of the Barossa, Kabininge on the Barossa floor near Tanunda, and Milton Park in the Barossa’s elevated Eden Valley. It's rich and full-flavoured, a lavish melange of ripe red and black fruits, delicious spice and creamy, toasty oak on a long, luscious finish.
Teusner The Riebke Shiraz
Young gun Barossa winemaker Kym Teusner undoubtedly makes some of the finest wines in the Barossa Valley today. There's a vibrancy and excitement to his wines that continues to win hearts and minds aplenty. His Riebke Shiraz has proven to be a bona fide star in recent years and his latest release will surely have you coming back for more! With its rich, full-bodied palate that Barossa Shiraz lovers can't get enough of, the Riebke is also balanced with fine, powdery tannin and great use of oak to bring a moreish quality to this great value-for-money Shiraz.
Hentley Farm The Marl Shiraz
Hentley Farm is a boutique, single estate vineyard that focuses on producing premium quality single-estate and single-block wines reflective of their exceptional Barossan terrior. 'The Marl' takes its name from the fruit grown on red clay loam over marl (a friable earthy deposit consisting of clay and limestone) which reduces the water and nutrient availability producing low crops and rich flavours. True to the style, the Shiraz is layered with berry fruits with hints of dark chocolate, earth and subtle spice. While full-bodied the palate is soft with lovely lingering finish.
Henschke Henry's Seven Shiraz Grenache Viognier
This blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Viognier is a relatively recent addition to Henschke's impressive range. Typically fragrant plum and raspberry aromas, followed by a velvety palate with rich fruit flavours and well intergraded tannins. Henry's Seven will not disappoint.
Head Red Shiraz
Head Wines was started in 2006 by Alex Head. It focuses on single site Rhône varietals from the Barossa and Eden Valleys in South Australia. Head Red is a barrel cull from Barossa vineyards including 'The Blonde', 'The Brunette' and The Contrarian single vineyard Shiraz wines. It allows a pre-view of the vintage quality to come and keeps the quality of the Single vineyard wines as high as possible. The wine receives 12 months barrel age in predominantly older French hogsheads allowing the vintage and terroir to show clearly. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Spinifex Bete Noir Shiraz
Spinifex Bete Noir Shiraz has a potent herb infused fruit on attack. Spiced red plum, cherry and sage flavours with a saline edge are carried on mid-weight frame of strong black tea-like tannin. Barossa Shiraz with even temper - displays fleshy, dark and generous fruit measured by ripe acids and drying tannin.
Running With Bulls Tempranillo Bagnum
Born from a different attitude and a different approach, we bucked tradition - championing Barossa varietals made in a bright, exciting style. This Barossa Tempranillo is picked at optimum ripeness for a mouth-watering, medium-bodied wine. Expect aromas of cocoa, blackcurrant, and sweet spice. The palate? All plush dark berries and smooth chocolate.
Heirloom Barossa Shiraz
"Skilfully made, pushing the boundary of ripeness to a point where the richness of the Barossa (and shiraz) is expressed without becoming overdone. Blackberry, blueberry, sweet spice and almost (but not fully) dried fruit aromas fill the bouquet, and the palate is a flowing wave of juicy plummy flavour with a seasoning of French oak and supple, fine-grained tannin." 95 points, James Halliday Wine Companion, August 2017.
Heirloom Vineyards Barossa Shiraz
This wine has an intense bright purple hue and an inkier royal red carpet colour closer to the centre of the glass. The aroma is an astonishing and lifted brace of blackberries, spice and even a perfume like touch of blueberries. Pure fruit and spice that is not in any way overwhelmed by winemaking artefact. The wine has a concentration of aromas that come from not over-ripe fruits. The smells change quickly in the glass and are fascinating to follow but the mouth beckons. There is quite a remarkable entry to the palate. A seamless soft but structured shiraz, lots of blackberries again for sure but also a mid-palate dark chocolate spice that whooshes through the mouth that you want to slow it down and check it out. There is some cream and spice from the French Oak and an almost chalk like tannin structure but it's all about the pure fruit.
Spinifex Syrah
Beautifully sculpted, racy, red-and-blackberry-fruit along with a lifted rosehip note as well, and some inky depths on the driven finish. Gets more and more perfumed and lively with air, it's another terrific effort from one of Australia's most gifted wine people. The wine, naturally fermented with a judicious use of whole clusters (on average 30%) in a combination of stainless steel, wood and concrete fermenters, also sees a shorter maturation than the Esprit and Bête Noir, et al. The 2018 was cropped from five high, exposed parcels in the Barossa and Eden Valley, where the soils are generally poor and skeletal - for the most part light, gravelly and silty sands over deeply weathered base rocks of varied origins. Vine age varies from 25 to 115 years old (averaging 50 years old), and all fruit is hand harvested. Spinifex was started in 2001 with the opportunity to source some great old vine Mataro growing in deep white drift-sand on the Barossa Valleys Western Ridge. Owned by husband and wife team, Peter Schell and Magali Gely, their focus is on regional wines from the traditional Mediterranean grape varieties that have been grown successfully in Australia for over 150 years - Shiraz, Mataro, Grenache, Cinsault, Carignan, Ugni Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne and Semillon. They aim to make wines that display signatures of vineyard provenance and vintage, show regional typicity and have a consistent thread of 'house style' that reflects their preferences and experiences with wine. The wines they choose to make are predominately blends, the synergies derived from blending wines of differing character enhance the subtle complexities, even textures and profound personalities delivered from great old vine vineyards.