Hitting their Straps; Perfectly Cellared Award Winning Reds V2.0
We love a cellared red here at WD. Take a massive red, give it a few years to marinate in its own juices, softening a little and losing the rough edges, and we're hearing 'hello, Saturday night'! Here's how it might unfold.
It’s Saturday night and near-spent charcoal is shimmering wobbly blues and greys ‘neath the griddle, whilst a hint of wood smoke tantalizes your olfactories. The sounds of a salad being constructed threatens to accost your reverie. You deny this repugnant intrusion, note that two magnificent slices of aged steak have just reached room temp, and usher your mind towards their perfect bottled accompaniment. It will come from somewhere superb, perhaps the McLaren Vale, Barossa, or the Clare Valley. It might be a perfectly-cellared Mitchell Peppertree Shiraz, with its savoury sensibility and whisper-fine tannins, or perhaps a glorious Coonawarra Cabernet, all violets and blue fruit on a bed of cedar, or really any of the other beautiful wines in this dozen. You snap out of your reverie and snap open your chosen bottle. It’s time to pour a glass, place those steaks mindfully on the griddle and perhaps conjure up the tiniest salad plates imaginable. Today is not a salad day!
Rich, black, dark, deep, powerfully fruited and structured with a decent lick of oak. Old school but drinking beautifully thanks to its age. Blackcurrant, black olives, bay leaf, dark chocolate, zesty acidity and cedary oak make this a powerful pleasure right now. Will continue to improve tho, for at least a decade.
We loved the 2019 – it was the #1 wine out of 40 on our tasting panel. This is better- with greater intensity of fruit while still retaining the polish and balance of the previous vintage. There are blue and black fruits, spice, cedar and plenty of fine tannins. An exceptional Barossa Valley Shiraz.
95pts Kim Brebach, 95pts Decanter World Wine Awards
Selected from Heirloom’s best McLaren Vale vineyard. We saw musk, plum skin, spice, cherries, earthiness, Earl Grey tea, blackberry and black pepper. A sense enveloping and incredibly beguiling wine finished with a dusting of fine powdery tannins. Magical.
A powerhouse old vine Barossa Shiraz, which was given an 18 month sleep in A-grade French oak. Black fruits, chocolate, fig, cherries and vanilla all happening here, and the length and texture are sublime. If you like your Barossa Shiraz stamped 'pulls no punches', this is likely to make you very happy indeed.
96pts Kim Brebach, 95pts Wine Pilot, 94pts Sam Kim
A riper, darker and more supple expression of Peppertree Shiraz which retains the hallmark spice and subtlety. It was aged in old oak and released at 5 years of age – ready to drink! This is balanced and fresh, offering dark fruits, cherries, violets, dark chocolate, savoury notes and white pepper. Drink any time over the next 10+ years.
3 x Gold Medals, 93pts James Halliday, 93pts Real Review
This is top end Coonawarra Cab done right. A grade vines are hand tended, the fruit bunch sorted, open fermented, basket pressed and put into superb French oak for a couple of years. Red fruits, mulberries, bramble, olives, dried herbs are all in the mix. The palate is extremely powerful, textural, intense and long. An exceptional, single vineyard Coonawarra Cab.
