Shiraz Syrah

Wine Spectator – Juicy notes of ripe black cherry and spiced plum are thick and velvety, oozing with details of baking spices, tobacco and Earl Grey tea on the finish. Concentrated and complex. The thick tannins add some charm. Drink now through 2030.

World Wine – The gorgeously perfumed bouquet shows Black Doris plum, sweet raspberry, violet, olive and toasted almond characters with a whiff of fragrant spice. The palate is concentrated, focused and delightfully flowing with outstanding depth and intensity, while remaining elegant and poised, leading to an extremely long expansive finish. Harmonious, seamless and flawlessly precise. Combining exquisite refinement and undeniable power, this latest offering is another stunning beauty under this iconic label. Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

The Wine Front – Cherry and mixed berries, a whiff of spice and dill, vanilla and toast. Medium bodied, confident in its delivery of classic Barossa Shiraz flavour, has a certain lightness with gently juicy fruit mixed in with umami flavour, fine-grained tannin, well-pitched acidity and a satisfying finish.

James Halliday – "96 Points. Fruit from eight vineyards across the Barossa and Eden valleys, anywhere from 10-60% whole bunches depending on the batch, 3 weeks on skins and all French oak, 45% new. The wine stands out. Spice, fruit, pepper and wood smoke flavours explode onto the palate and ramp the seduction from there. It's both supple and fresh, but the fruit power is obvious. In short, it's really good. 14.5% alc. To 2034. - Campbell Mattinson, Halliday Wine Companion 2020.

The Wine Front –

World Wine – A full array of foresty berry fruits here again, all layered in neat, fitted together with the precision and detail of an expert joiner; this has impressive polish. The fruit aromas run through red, blue and dark tones, chocolate and liquorice, a hint of spice.

The Wine Front – Plum and blue fruits, peanuts in dark chocolate, plenty of spice, touch of stalk and meaty funk, with a subtle floral perfume. Medium bodied, silky and well knit, with fine grained graphite tannin, balanced acidity, and an even finish of good length.

James Halliday – Matured for 12 months in new and used oak (88% French, 12% American). Bright crimson colour heralds a wine full of vitality; red berry flavours surge through the mouth, gauzy tannins in the background adding to the exuberant mouthfeel and length.

World Wine –

Antonio Galloni/Vinous – ‘Brilliant ruby-red. Spice-accented dark berry, cherry pit and succulent flowers on the perfumed nose. Fleshy and broad in the mouth but lively as well, offering sappy black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors that become sweeter with air. Closes gently tannic, with very good energy and persistence, leaving a spicecake note behind. Drink 2018- 2022.’

World Wine – This is nearly equal parts Shiraz, Mataro and Grenache, full bodied and creamy in texture. Black cherries and peppery spice show up on the nose, while the palate adds brighter red raspberries, bass notes of ripe plums, sweet hints of brown sugar and savory, meaty complexity. Drink now–2023.

The Wine Front – Biodynamic farmed from a single vineyard on the Paxton estate. Grows up in French and American oak barrels. Paxton have been a leading light in showing biodynamic (certified) viticulture can be done to scale, well. Inky, deep, throaty red of hearty, dark fruit character, all inky cassis and choc-berry, liquid spice, fat tannins. A juicy, fleshy, plush flow of espresso tinged plummy fruit, gritty, savouriness to close. This is a big, bold red of warming character and density. Touch of warmth in the mix. It’s done pretty well for its style.

James Halliday – Biodynamic-grown fruit, open-fermented, matured in French and American barriques for 18 months. A celebrated McLaren Vale single vineyard wine, effortlessly providing a deep well of black fruits and fine-grained tannins, the oak a positive contributor, not a rabble rouser.

World Wine – Chocolate, dried plum and anise notes are juicy and bursting with blackberry accents. Balanced and smooth, especially on the finish. Drink now through 2026.

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – The Guigals predict volumes of only 3.5 million bottles for the 2017 Cotes du Rhone, as good wine was harder to source than in 2016. It's still bright and primary, with cherry fruit seeming a bit one-dimensional at this stage, although there's a welcome hint of almond paste on the crisp finish. Range: 89-91

The Wine Front – Blackberry and blueberry, spice and aniseed, a lick of vanilla. Full bodied, but kind of smooth with it, dark chocolate and black olives, balanced acidity, and deep fleshy tannin rolling onto the finish. Richness of fruit, grounded by the earthiness of Kay’s. It’s entirely convincing, and good.

James Halliday – "An incredibly dense and luxuriant palate grabs all the attention; how this has been achieved with 14% alcohol is anyone's guess, but I'm not disposed to argue, because the outcome is a totally serendipitous, supple, full-bodied shiraz replete with dark Swiss chocolate wrapped around luscious black fruits." Halliday Wine Companion '16

The Wine Front – In excellent form, as is the entire Scorpo range. White pepper melts into black cherry-plum and woodsmoke. Offers a good burst of ripe fruit but it's characterised by its pepperiness. Spicy tannin spins through the finish. I can't recall a better Scorpo shiraz.

James Halliday – This is almost black, with a shot of red/purple. It's not a wallflower. There are plenty of steadfast grainy tannins reined in by a ribbon of acidity. Smells great, tastes even better: black cherries, exotic spices plus sumac, the flavours are intense and satisfying. It opens up more and more, revealing a gloss across the full-bodied palate. Jane Faulkner Published 13 August 2021

The Wine Front – 'It's the blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (56%) and shiraz (44%) that could take on all-comers.Stand aside. There's a freight train of flavour here and while its brakes are hydraulic its momentum is enormous. For the love of grapes. A huge swerve and plum and blackcurrant flavour comes drenched in cedar wood, mocha and vanilla, though its top notes of tobacco and bay shine throughout like the top edge of wave. Will you take a look at the nut-like tannin on this job. This has more texture than a biscuit, more common than a keyboard. It's sheer old-new-school Aussie red wine brilliance. Rated: 97 Points Tasted: August 2021 Alcohol: 14.5% Drink: 2026 - 2044+' - Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

Huon Hooke – Very deep, dark, youthful purple/red colour with a rich, complex, profound bouquet that has a substantial oak input but not overdone—given the concentration of flavour. The palate flavour persists a very long time. It’s firm and youthful, needs more time, and promises much for the future. Dark berries galore: rich and ripe and very, very attractive. The Real Review, 23 March, 2021

The Wine Front – “The 2016 harvest was a little more challenging in terms of how the season progressed, though the end was brilliant”, says vigneron Stephen Henschke, “from quite good set in the vines, mild Spring, heat in Summer, it set the 2016s up for quite a plush structure, slightly different character to 2015s, more fruit driven, quite fruit driven, mature tannins, but lots of flavour and texture across the palate”. It still seems to be a balancing point here, not ‘Barossa Valley red wine’ in ‘style’, but characteristic of the vineyard and Eden Valley. “Edelstone classic character is spice, sage, black pepper spice, black and blueberry”, offers Henschke, “lots of complexity”. Good to keep in mind. This wine sees 80% French, 20% American oak and not much of that new. Two years in barrel. Rich, ripe scents, overlay of sandalwood and cedar, new leather and slapped sage leaf, black currants and black olive too. That perfume improves over time, more evocative, more delicious, more everything, fantastic. Slippery, sleek and fine to taste, succulent with a generous side, dark, brooding berry fruits, compote sweet and rich but with a freshness of acidity that counterbalances nicely and the word ‘purity’ comes to mind. Epic wine, so much going on, incredibly detailed and quietly powerful. Wonderful release speaking so fluently of stately old vine and intensity of fruit. Drink 2021 - 2050+ 96+ Points Mike Bennie - The Wine Front (March 2021)

James Halliday – The vineyard was planted in 1912, hand-picked, matured in 80% French and 20% American hogsheads (19% new). The vintage was challenging, but this shiraz shows no sign of that. It is full-bodied, very complex and very long, the tannins expertly massaged and drawn under the fruit. Blackberry, tar and bitter dark chocolate all contribute to what will be a very long-lived wine. Drink by 2051. 97 points James Halliday's Wine Companion (March 2020)