James Halliday – "If Pat Carmody can’t make great shiraz, then we should all shut up shop. He’s only been doing so at Craiglee for, oh, about 40-plus years. There's a DNA imprint to this, with a whorl of dark fruit, warm spices shot through, cedary oak and wafts of red roses. Very savoury though, fuller bodied with archetypal Craiglee tannins supple, shapely and ripe. Yes, a lovely wine made by a legend." (Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion)

James Suckling – 2018 Vintage Review - “This is so very complex and fragrant with such impressive Eden Valley spice and blueberry fruit, as well as dark-stone nuances. The blueberry flavors are so pure and essence-like and silky tannins carry the flavors so deep and vivid. Seamless. Drink over the next fifteen years.” - Nick Stock, James Suckling’s Top 100 Australian Wines of 2021

James Halliday – From the sixth-generation Riebke growers, deeply coloured and unashamedly full-bodied, gritty tannins standing guard over wild blackberry fruit. A degree of patience is absolutely essential, but will be rewarded thanks to the overall balance of the wine.

The Wine Front – Shiraz from Greenock and Stonewell in the Barossa Valley. Open fermented, basket pressed, no new oak, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Old school Barossa, in a new school way. Barossa shiraz is such a pleasurable beast when it’s allowed to run free. This is the famous fruit in all its deep, dark, blackberried glory. It’s fresh but intense, simple in a straight-shooting way, intricately tannic and lengthy. I’d reckon they’ve nailed it. It’s sturdy but pretty; it drinks ever-so-well. Sweet and ripe. This is luscious red wine drinking. Tar, honey, baked plums and dried herbs. It loads up the palate with flavour, all sweet and loose and delicious.

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.

The Wine Front – Lusty, slurpy red with beefiness and sweet-sour tendencies in the nicest sense. Stains the palate thick with rich, red fruitiness, some cola and light coffee elements, touches of toast and clove. Scents like all that, big wall of it, effective in delivery of McLaren Vale shirazisms. It’s a lovely red, relishes its warm-hearted appeal, delivers concentration and many layers. It feels fine tuned too, in the sense that there’s some decent tannin licks and woody spice to show edges. Nice.

James Halliday – There is a lighter touch to this than in past vintages, although it's still a dense, compact and richly flavoured wine. A stellar vintage and a long, gentle extraction (133 days) on skins in a 675L ceramic egg helped. Pointed northern Rhône-like aromas of blueberry, violet, white pepper, dried nori, black olive and clove. An undercarriage of briar and hedgerow imparts a welcome savouriness. The sinewy tannic mettle suggests this will age well and grow with stature in time.

The Wine Front – "It's a mighty wine, weighty with fruit and oak flavour, but it's also fresh and flowing." 94 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

James Halliday – "94 Points. Bright crimson-purple; a spray of red flowers, berries and spice on the bouquet sets the scene for a wine that over-delivers on its price and the vagaries of the '16 vintage. It's light to medium-bodied, with a cornucopia of red fruits, ripe, fine tannins providing length and persistence to the palate. There's no need for patience, but 5 years won't tire it. $24.00 14.5% alc Drink By: 2025" James Halliday, winecompanion.com.au

James Suckling – This is a very pure, super-young style of shiraz that is all about the unadulterated taste of blueberry and red-plum shiraz fruit. Smooth, open-knit and plump, it has no sulphites added – hence the preservative-free acronym. Drink now. jamessuckling.com, 30 August, 2021

The Wine Front – "Super shiraz. Powerfully fruited but soft through the palate and, importantly, spread widely with tannin. A few sips and the word complete came to mind. Berries, earth, woodsmoke, peppercorns and toast. Viognier adds brightness and texture more than it does flavour, though it is (just) detectable. This feels like an outstanding wine at all points along the palate." - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

James Halliday – "Great depth and spread of flavour and a remarkable set of tannin. It's the complete red wine. Smoky, ripe, drenched in red berry and clove flavours, a finish that reaches far. Dark chocolate and toast characters are melted through, as indeed are dark roasted spice notes. Cracking wine." - James Halliday (Halliday Wine Companion)

World Wine – Sam Kim (Wine Orbit)