Wine & Spirits - February 2021 - 50

Year's Best
South Australia
Mediterranean
Varieties
BLENDS
BAROSSA
126031

93 | Henschke

$66

2017 Barossa Valley Johann's Garden ^
A blend from parcels of old, dry-farmed
grenache on limestone, this includes mataro
and a little syrah. If you love classic Barossa
grenache, get some of this 2017, from a mild
season with good reserves of water and a
cool, late harvest that ended in the first
week of May. You can sense that coolness in
the quiet purity of fruit, the silken tannins
and ample red-berry translucence of the
wine. Stay with it, and the wine's simple first
impression takes on a red-fruited grandeur.
Still an incipient bud, this will bloom over the
next ten years in bottle. § Winebow Imports, NY
126032

91 | Henschke

$72

2015 Barossa Keyneton Euphonium ^ The
B-flat euphonium was part of the German
brass ensemble in the Henschke Family
Band as far back as 1888. Stephen and
Prue Henschke maintain a collection of the
original instruments, dedicating this wine to
the family's musical history. It's a blend of
shiraz (66 percent) with cabernet sauvignon,
merlot and cabernet franc grown in Eden
and Barossa. The wine's deep raspberry-red
fruit has scented layers of date, herb and
pine. It's supple and complex, the sticky
tannins the only aspect interfering with the
wine's harmony, a factor that should resolve
itself with bottle age. § Winebow Imports, NY

Our blind panels tasted 185 new-release
South Australian shiraz, grenache and
Mediterranean varieties over the past 12
months. Joshua Greene, our critic for
Australian wines, rated 55 as exceptional
(90+) and 25 as Best Buys. Find a
complete list of wines tasted and all reviews
at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

behind this wine's spicy red cherry flavors.
The fruit is sweet, but that ripeness is edged
with high-toned acidity that extends those
cherry flavors in a salty, spicy finish. Pour it
with spicy braised pork shoulder. § Kysela Père
et Fils, Winchester, VA
126179

90 | Penfolds

$40

2018 Barossa Valley Bin 138 Shiraz
Grenache Mataro ^ This is a powerful 2018,
dense with dark berry flavors and tannins
that recall the black skin of wild blueberries.
Lasting, firm and lifted by some floral notes,
this needs a few years in the cellar for the
tannins to mellow. § Treasury Wine Estates,
Napa, CA

CL ARE VALLEY
126128

91 | Pikes

$17

2018 Clare Valley Los Compañeros
Shiraz Tempranillo (Best Buy) ^ Here's a
steal: Plump tempranillo adds fruit to the
spicy black-pepper notes of shiraz, giving
this wine the feel of a ripe Rioja. There's a
lovely umami gloss to the tannins, taking it
to Logroño for a plate of wild mushrooms
sautéed with garlic, or to Adelaide for seared
tuna over a salad of avocado, arugula and
orange slices. § Winebow Imports, NY

MCL AREN VALE

way neglected this classic. In fact, this is the
best d'Arry's Original in recent memory,
though Chester's father, d'Arry Osborn,
may remember better since he created the
original " Burgundy " blend in the 1960s. This
is a lovely, bright, sassy wine, more about
elemental sensations than any direct fruit.
The grape-skin freshness of its tannins seems
to reflect the cool, late vintage, delivering a
sensation like the pure brisk feel of snow
melt. The texture is supple, with some rocky
edges, and there's a spice to the wine, a bright
fruit character shadowed by gamey notes.
Simple, classic and delicious. § Old Bridge
Cellars, Napa, CA
126014

92 | S.C. Pannell

$30

90 | d'Arenberg

$29

2017 South Australia Tempranillo/Tou-
riga ^ More than half of this wine comes from
a parcel in McLaren Vale (touriga nacional
and tempranillo), the balance comes from a
parcel in Barossa (tempranillo and tinta cão).
The blend comes together in pure umami
satisfaction, a hunter's wine that tastes salty,
gamey and lush. Berkshire restaurateur
Daniel Osman placed it " in a castle hall, with
a board full of meats, juices dribbling down
your thick beard. "  § Vine Street Imports, Mount
Laurel, NJ
126069
2017 McLaren Vale The Sticks & Stones
Tempranillo-Grenache-Souzao ^ There's
density to this blend of Iberian varieties, with
the waxiness of wild blueberry skins and the
fruitiness of boletes. It's balanced between
bright acidity and cedary tannins, ready for a
mushroom risotto. § Old Bridge Cellars, Napa,
CA

GRAC IANO
126008

92 | Paxton

93 | d'Arenberg

91 | Thorn-Clarke

$28

2018 Barossa Valley Shotfire GSM (Best
Buy) ^ The gamey scent of mataro stands
50

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2021

$20

2017 McLaren Vale d'Arry's Original
Grenache Shiraz (Best Buy) ^ " That's just
beautiful. " I don't often write those words
for a $20 wine, if I write them at all. While
Chester Osborn may be farming 37 varieties
and making many more wines, he has in no

$30

2019 McLaren Vale Graciano ^ David
Paxton grafted some chardonnay vines over
to graciano at his biodynamically farmed
estate. Planted on alluvial soils with clay and
riverstones, that parcel ripened its fruit to a
candied cherry and salted licorice flavor in
2019. That bright fruit lasts along with briny
tannins that shape it and lend clarity to the
http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/d+arenberg+arry+original+sra+grenache+mc+laren+vale+south+australia/2017 https://www.kysela.com/wine/shotfire-gsm.html
Wine & Spirits - February 2021

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