“ The 2004 Shiraz was a
   great success and after
   being given 94 points
   in James Halliday's
   Wine Guide promptly
   sold out.”

OUR WINES

Our philosophy is to obtain the best possible fruit to make the best possible wine and to do better each year.

In 2002 Mark Herbertt made a trial Shiraz with 90% McLaren Vale and 10% Barossa Valley fruit. This worked out so well, and sold out so quickly, that we established a formal partnership.

In 2003 we failed to find any fruit which we liked so did not make a wine. However, in 2004, we were lucky enough to secure some excellent 1654 Shiraz from a young grower in Marananga. His family have been growing grapes in the Barossa for generations. Our 2004 vintage was made by one of the "rising star" Barossa winemakers (unfortunately we are not allowed to use his name on the web or in retail sales). The 2004 Shiraz was a great success and after being given 94 points in James Halliday's Wine Guide promptly sold out.

The fruit for the 2005 shiraz was from the same consistently excellent grower and 3 others we had not used before. All fruit we sourced was of the highest quality and each parcel was subtly different from the other 3. All parcels were vinified separately and then each spent time in a combination of Seguin-Moreau medium toast, fine grained French oak hogsheads and 2 year old American Oak until mid 2006. The wine was released in late 2007. It is a complex luscious wine that we are very pleased with.

In 2005 and 2006 we experimented with a limited amount of very interesting old vine Barossa Grenache that we blended to produce a GSM. Both the 2005 and 2006 GSM were in very limited quantities with the 2005 selling out in a matter of weeks.

Similarly we tried a long shot with Australia's first (we believe) Tempranillo rose blended with about 13% Cinsault. While a refreshing, dry and enjoyable wine, especially popular in summer, we have decided, going forward, to concentrate on what the Barossa does best - outstanding red wine.

In 2006 we also experimented with small amounts of low production old vine Cabernet Sauvignon we sourced from both the Barossa Valley and from McLaren Flat. We love this iconic Australian variety and are ecstatic at what Pete Schell has achieved. It is so good we have made it our "reserve" wine and called it “The Scorpiiion”. Preliminary reviews agree it is outstanding.

As with all our wines, our plans are totally dependent on producing only the highest quality. This has meant that we have not made a 2007 shiraz or cabernet sauvignon. Grapes were scarce as a result of frosts in many parts and widespread dry conditions. Our Barossa grower avoided most of the frosts but had rain just after veraison causing widespread splitting of the little fruit that was available. Except for the components of the GSM, we could not source any fruit up to our standards.