Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 52

FOCUS: AUSTRALIA
sity turns toward grandeur. Built to cellar. §
Vine Street Imports, Mount Laurel, NJ

121420

93 | John Duval Wines

$40

2015 Barossa Valley Entity Shiraz ^ As chief
winemaker at Penfolds for 16 years, John
Duval was powerfully networked at the
center of the Barossa wine community. He
established his own label in 2003, focused
on Barossa, where he sources fruit from parcels in Krondorf, Eden Valley, Light Pass and
Ebenezer to make Entity. His 2015 is a silky
shiraz emphasizing tannins with the cool feel
of freshly turned earth. It melds floral notes
with scents of black olive, black pepper and
a bright berry rasp of fruit that speaks of oldvine concentration. Finely integrated, this is
built to last. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
121289

93 | Langmeil

$69

2015 Barossa Valley Orphan Bank Shiraz ^
The Lindner family of Langmeil set about to
save a small parcel of 300 vines in Tanunda,
planted in 1840. Rather than leave them to be
bulldozed, they moved them to their property on the North Para River; 2008 was the
first vintage in their new home. Seven years
on, those vines produced a firm, red-fruited
shiraz with aromatic tension that keeps layering different scents, from sage and eucalyptus to black-olive tapenade. Impressively
long, even as it sustains a tight line of flavor. §
Negociants USA, Napa, CA
121407

92 | Brokenwood

$36

2015 Hunter Valley Shiraz ^ Youthfully lean,
this wine's muscular tannins direct blackberry and wild strawberry flavors through
a dark and spicy finish. While it's tight and
closed off, there's intriguing earthy abrasion
to the tannins that suggests complexities to
come. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA
121472

92 | Handpicked Wines

$25

2015 Barossa Valley Regional Selections
55 Shiraz (Best Buy) ^ This is a succulent
Barossa shiraz from a new team at this Australian-based global wine venture. The tannins of this wine feel supple, like biting into
a juicy black mushroom next to Cantonese
beef. There's sophistication in its texture
without diminishing the powerful nature of
Barossa, the combination unusually grand
for a $25 wine. American Spirits Exchange,
Bridgeport, PA
121410
52

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

92 | Jasper Hill

$85

2015 Heathcote Georgia's Paddock Shiraz ^
The 30 acres of shiraz planted at Georgia's
Paddock face northwest, the vines growing
on their own roots in deep Cambrian soils.
Farmed with biodynamic practices and made
without added yeasts or acids, this wine is
stripped down to its zesty blackberry depths,
that blackness of fruit and tannins creating
a broad bandwidth of flavor. It ranges from
sweet cherry tomato to luxurious bitter chocolate notes while focusing on the black fruit
in the middle. Vibrant. § Old Bridge Cellars,
Napa, CA
121290

92 | Jim Barry

$245

2013 Clare Valley The Armagh Shiraz ^ Jim
Barry planted this vineyard in 1968, and it
now provides the top wine made by his son
Peter. This spent almost two years in oak,
more French than American, presenting a
rich wine saturated with black plum flavors.
It's a relatively accessible vintage of what is
often a superconcentrated wine, this one feeling complete, opening to a racy freshness as
it takes on air. Cellar it, and the depth of flavor from those 55-year-old vines should start
to come through. § Negociants USA, Napa, CA
121301

92 | Jim Barry

$19

2015 Clare Valley The Lodge Hill Shiraz
(Best Buy) ^ Tasted blind, in the same panel
tasting as Jim Barry The Armagh 2013, this
wine earned more unanimous praise and
provided plenty of richness and intensity.
It may be a less ambitious wine, but it is no
less beautiful, its power delivered in scents
of aged beef, pressed rose petals and oak.
There's some delicacy in the midst of that
power, the flavors suspended, in balance. §
Negociants USA, Napa, CA
121467

92 | Kay Brothers

$119

2015 McLaren Vale Amery Vineyard Block
6 Shiraz ^ Herbert and Frederick Kay planted
these vines in 1891 on a hillside their family
continues to farm today, making the wine in
the original open-top fermenters. Intriguingly, Block 6 maintains the rustic nature
of a farmer's wine, even as it presents that
earthy briskness of tannins with fresh blueberry notes that give the wine energy and lift.
There's fineness to its mineral power, a depth
of flavor to serve with a meat-laced eggplant
parmigiana. § Quintessential, Napa, CA
121316

92 | Langmeil

$149

2015 Barossa The Freedom 1843 Shiraz ^
The Lindner family helped resurrect Christian Auricht's original 1843 planting in
Tanunda, today farming some of the oldest

shiraz vines in Barossa. Their 2015 is all muscle and no fat, a black, smoky, intensely tarry
red that promises a great future ahead. Compressed for now, dominated by its oak, the
wine's flavors come out in a long, complex
finish. A treasure for the cellar. § Negociants
USA, Napa, CA
121324

92 | Timo Mayer

$85

92 | Wicks Estate

$25

2016 Yarra Valley Syrah ^ Mayer grows this
wine at his Bloody Hill Vineyard, 6.4 acres of
vines on a steep slope at the base of Mount
Toolebewong. He uses 50 percent whole
clusters in the fermentation, which seems to
outline the charry edges of this syrah, capturing black mushroom and black olive flavors within a tense structure. Decant it for a
wood-oven pizza topped with eggplant, sausage and olives. § Vine Street Imports, Mount
Laurel, NJ
121576
2014 Adelaide Hills Shiraz (Best Buy) ^ An
elegant cool-climate shiraz, this offers pleasure in refined flavors of juicy green olives,
black mushrooms and black tea. It's a tight,
floral style with mineral tannins that wrap
the fruit and keep it crisp. For charcuterie. §
Great Australian Wine Co., Calistoga, CA
121317

92 | Yalumba

$119

2013 Barossa The Octavius Shiraz ^ This is
a selection from parcels in Barossa and Eden
valleys, with 84 years as the average age of the
vines. It's named for the octaves, small, new
barrels coopered at Yalumba using French
and American oak, in which 42 percent of
the wine ages (the balance goes in French
barriques and hogsheads). That oak aging
adds a sheen while interacting with the fruit
to produce notes of toasted rye and bitter
chocolate. Beyond that is an intense shiraz
with floral notes and a black crush of minerals defining its tough structure. Powerful and
savory, this needs bottle age to integrate and
mellow. § Negociants USA, Napa, CA
121341

91 | Jamsheed

$55

2015 Beechworth Warner's Vineyard
Syrah ^ Gary Mills makes this syrah from a
site in the foothills of the Victorian Alps-
the elevation at Beechworth is more than
1,800 feet. He works without additions:
spontaneous, whole-bunch fermentations;
no enzymes; no fining or filtering and minimal sulfur at bottling. So the wine leans a
little natural in its volatility, needing a good
shake in a decanter to get past the pickle
scents and land in meat-and-olive-tapenade
spiciness. It turns fragrant with light scents
of black- and blueberries, cured meat and

http://www.obcwines.com/wineries/john-duval/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018