James Halliday – "A pristine and captivating shiraz from every angle. While it appears delicate, with florals and red fruits interspersed with woodsy spices and a whisper of pepper, it's all about refinement. It is also wonderfully savoury. A medium-bodied palate, juicy, with a unison between superfine raw silk tannins and acidity. Complex, compelling and utterly delicious at the same time. 95 points." - Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

The Wine Front – "Perfume of lavender and violet over black fruit, sooty and earthy, with sweet spices. It’s medium to full-bodied, fleshy and silty with Turkish coffee tannin, a blackberry pip freshness, but still deep and rolling, perhaps a little cocoa too, with some orange peel and amaro on a long chewy finish. Terrific expression of Barossa Shiraz. Unadorned and with a little umami/shitake mushroom savoury thing happening, or maybe it’s porcini, though I prefer to use the first four letters of the other mushroom in this review." - Gary Walsh

James Halliday – "As flawless as its siblings. Deep crimson- purple hue, with black cherries and a fine- spun net of tannins. This is such a lovely syrah, its Blewitt Springs origin shouting from the rooftops. Length and balance just to start." - James Halliday (The Weekend Australian)

Huon Hooke – "Deep red with a good purple tint at the rim; the bouquet is shy and slightly muted at first, with notes of dried forest-floor litter and spices, a trace of black pepper, while the palate is full-bodied and rich, firm in tannin and long, firm and crisply clean finishing. Serious shiraz with good potential for aging." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – The 2019 Salanques is powerful, seamless and quite complete, from a year of good ripeness and powerful wines but with balance. This has a lot of everything, starting with 15% alcohol (as stated on the label), black fruit, graphite, power and Priorat character. It's the same blend of 65% Garnacha, 25% Cariñena and 10% Syrah, with a pH of 3.28 and integrated oak after fermenting part of the volume in a large oak vat in their new winery - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The Wine Front – "It’s the best Shiraz/Grenache/Tempranillo/Merlot blend I can recall tasting, or so I quipped back in August 2023, while tasting this with incoming winemaker Tim Shand. I’m trying it again now, as it wasn’t released back then. This vintage is the first with Tim at the controls. No SO2 added here. Juicy, sweet red berries, cherry cola, a little earthy and peppery, baking spice. Fleshy, bright, but lovely texture and fine silty tannin, some meatiness, but succulent and juicy to close, with a gentle hit of bitterness. Good stuff. The shape of things to come at Voyager, perhaps." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

James Halliday – "Tim Shand took over as chief winemaker in late 2022, so this wine represents one of the first under his guardianship – and a brand-new one to boot. Very much in the Yarra Valley dry-red vein, no surprise given he spent more than a decade in that region, though this is a Margaret River version. A blend of 40/20/20% shiraz/grenache/tempranillo, all whole bunches, and 20% merlot, which is destemmed but left as whole berries, each parcel fermented separately and popped into old oak for three months before blending. It’s a cracking wine. Lovely supple tannins, tangy and juicy acidity with the core of bright, red-accented fruit flavours all in line and an attractive leesy flavour, too. Super-fresh and vibrant all the way through. Gluggable comes to mind, so does delicious. It’s not about ageability or complexity, Vivid Red is about drinkability and for a lighter-framed style, this is excellent. Don’t be afraid to chill this down in warmer weather. Don’t be afraid to drink it with gusto, and best to do so as it’s preservative free." - Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)

The Wine Front – “It’s spicy, fine-fingered and refreshing but it doesn’t lack flavour or indeed weight. This is all red cherry and plum with swoops cedar, black pepper and clove. It feels neat. It feels polished. There’s a bunchy garden herb aspect but it’s tucked well within. Fineness of the tannin is of note too. You’d imagine that this will blossom in time.” - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

The Wine Front – “Intense small black berries, graphite, a little smoke and plenty of spice, roast beef and aniseed. It’s medium-bodied, cool and fine, graphite tannin, meaty and peppery, but with sweet blackcurrant and blackberry flavour. Finish is long and spicy, savoury and pinched with fresh bramble berry acidity, perfume and stony coolness. It’s an excellent wine. Succulent, yet fine boned.” - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

James Halliday – "Fermented with 100% whole bunches, 3 weeks on skins before being pressed to French hogsheads for 10 months. So finely tuned and rather beautiful. While there are flashes of fruit, this is savoury. Juniper, aniseed balls, ironstone, a woodland of herbs and nori in the mix. It has definition and power but works off a medium-bodied palate finishing with sandy tannins and great persistence. Bravo." - Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

James Suckling – "Very attractive, spiced blueberries and blackberries, as well as redder, raspberry notes, as well as chocolate and graphite. Sappy and lively, the palate is impressively cast in long, glossy ripe tannins, delivering dark-berry and chocolate flavors into the long, juicy finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap."- Nick Stock, jamessuckling.com

James Halliday – “Taut. Playful. Fruit-focused and bright. A wine for Friday night pasta and Sunday barbecues. Wild cherries. Classical tones." - Toni Paterson, The Wine Companion

The Wine Front – “Mostly dark fruit with pepper and dark chocolate. Just a hint of vanilla, sage, peppermint and a sweet note of a ripe raspberry. There’s something simple and pure about this wine, it just hits the spot. It’s energetic with bright acidity and a distinctly bitter finish. Bitter like fruit skin and ground coffee. The good bitter. There’s a fair bit of drying powdery tannin, too. Even though it could use a bit more time in bottle, it’s cohesive and entirely pleasant now.” - Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front

James Halliday – “Any red wine of the 2021 vintage is by definition better than any offering from ’20, it with no more than a handful of Hunter Valley shiraz wines that dared to make the point. This is a wine with a 20-plus year future, firm, earthy black fruits not requiring a 'thank god' finish.” - James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion 202

The Wine Front – “It’s meaty and fragrant. Wow, the taste, the mouthfeel is impressive. It’s full in flavour but subtle and it builds it up towards the end. Raspberries, blood, rosemary, sage, dark chocolate with caramel bits and salt flakes. The structure is complete with the front perfume, mid-palate weight and a long finale, it has velvety tannins, firm acidity and plush, fleshy body. So very well made, pure fruit and poise.” - Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front

James Halliday – "A single-vineyard shiraz made from the fruit of 53-year-old vines; hand-picked and cold soaked for 48 hours, spending a further 9 days on skins, matured for 16 months in French hogsheads (25% new). Release May ’23 after further maturation in bottle. Lovely hue and depth, the bouquet full of plum and blackberry verging on outright perfume, the palate taking no prisoners with its power and purity, the aftertaste long lasting. Sheer class, and not afraid to flaunt its wares." - James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion 2024

James Halliday – "From old vines on the Pokolbin Estate vineyard, the Kiss label is the flagship of Thomas Wines, made simply to focus on the quality of the grapes, albeit with some new oak support. Many of the '17 Hunter Valley shirazes have 'closed, call back later' signs plastered on them - not this wine, it welcomes you to taste it, lips generously open." - James Halliday, Winecompanion.com.au