barossa — jamie goode's wine blog

A couple from Ben Glaetzer

I’m a hypocrite. I go on all the time about how I love balance and elegance; I sing the praises of low alcohol, lightweight reds. And then I come across a couple of big, 15% alcohol Barossa reds that I find really delicious. I think it is because Ben Glaetzer can do big but still [...]

Two lovely wines from St Hallett

Impressed with these wines from Barossa producer St Hallett. The Faith Shiraz is riper and quite seductive, but with lovely fruit purity. The more expensive Scholz is deeper coloured, but less intense – it’s an elegant, expressive example of Barossa Shiraz with lots of personality.

St Hallett Faith Shiraz 2009 Barossa, Australia
Very appealing sweet berry fruits [...]

Some tasty wines from First Drop

Really impressed by this latest batch of wines from First Drop, who I reviewed a while back. These wines seem to manage to combine ripe fruit with freshness to great effect. And I love the packaging. Great label designs.

First Drop Half and Half 2009 Barossa, Australia
A blend of Shiraz and Monastrell. 14.5% alcohol. Sweet, ripe [...]

St Hallett Dawkins Vineyard Shiraz

Now this is interesting. It’s a new single-vineyard Shiraz from Barossa producer St Hallett, and it has bags of personality. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s distinctive and potentially ageworthy. Very Australian in style, but quite serious with it.

St Hallett Single Vineyard Release Dawkins Vineyard Shiraz 2009 Eden Valley, Barossa
From a single vineyard [...]

Video: Syrah and Shiraz - northern Rhone and Barossa

Here’s a short film of me tasting two contrasting wines. Both are from the same grape variety, but one is a Syrah (Jean-Luc Columbo Crozes-Hermitage Les Gravieres 2008), the other a Shiraz (St Hallett Dawkins Vineyard Eden Valley Shiraz 2009 Barossa, Australia). Both are very good but in quite distinctively different styles.

Three very interesting Aussies: First Drop

Three wines from innovative Aussie producer First Drop (see their website here). They specialize in alternative varieties, but also do a pretty good job with their more conventional wines. The packaging and marketing is spot on. These wines have just become available in the UK, so RRPs are attached. I’m chasing up where they are [...]

A pair of Mad Dogs - Shiraz and Sangiovese from the Barossa

I first reviewed the Mad Dog wines, made by Barossa grape grower Matthew Munzberg, some time ago. Here I’m taking a look at the latest releases, which are just fantastic.

This is the first ever convincing Barossa interpretation of Sangiovese I’ve encountered, and it was paired with a much improved Shiraz from the 2007 vintage. In [...]

Sweet wine season, 11: Turkey Flat Pedro Ximenez

I haven’t finished my sweet wine season yet. Not by any measure. Here’s number 11, and we’re off to Australia’s Barossa Valley for a bit of a rarity: an Australian Pedro Ximenez.

Turkey Flat Pedro Ximenez NV Barossa Valley, Australia
17% alcohol. A liqueur wine made by adding spirit to part fermented wine. Attractive red/brown colour. Sweet, [...]

An incredible Barossa Shiraz – one of the best ever?

I was blown away by this wine. I’ve tasted lots and lots of Barossa reds, and of those, this is perhaps the best – or at least very close to that. When I poured it, the density and intensity colour made me suspect it was going to be one of those big, spoofy styles, but [...]

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