Technical Tasting Notes

2022 Barossa Valley Shiraz

GROWING SEASON
The 2022 Barossa Valley vintage will be remembered as the second almost faultless season in a row after an equally impressive although different 2021 vintage. Both Vintages were cool, the coolest since 2002. Good spring rains meant that we entered the growing season with good soil moisture levels. A warm dry growing season followed, with balanced and healthy canopies producing an average crop of extremely high quality fruit.

A pigeon pair, perhaps the best two since 1990/1991 if not longer. The good news is that flavours and colours (in reds) and the vibrancy and lift in the whites are excellent. Overall quality is exceptional. Another extremely good Barossa vintage in the making.

TASTING NOTE

Shiraz sourced from vineyards across the Barossa Valley, from Williamstown in the South, Stone Well in the West and Ebenezer and Koonunga in the North. Handpicked, hand sorted, de-stemmed, and open fermented before pending 14 days on skins. Matured for 16 months in a blend of new and second use French oak before being bottled in October 2023.

Deep bright red tinged with purple. Fruit driven, blackberry plummy fruit supported by powerful Northern Barossa Tannins and natural acidity. This wine is drinking beautifully now but will improve for many years. Classic Cool Vintage Barossa from a wonderful vintage year.

Region/Sub Region: 100% Barossa Valley/Ebenezer, Stone Well, Williamstown
Grape Variety: 100% Shiraz
Alcohol: 14.5%
Production: 5000 bottles
Cellaring: 10+ years
Serve: With a range of meat and vegetarian dishes
Winemaker : Andrew Seppelt

Download Technical Tasting Notes 2022 Vintage →

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Download Technical Tasting Notes 2020 Vintage →

Download Technical Tasting Notes 2019 Vintage →

Download Technical Tasting Notes 2018 Vintage →

Download Technical Tasting Notes 2017 Vintage →

Reviews

2022 Barossa Valley Shiraz

Stuart Knox (realreview.com)

92 Points - A rich ruby red colour. Blood plum, anise and crushed violets all lift from the glass, all mirrored on the plush and velvety palate that flows long and deep. Fine tannins work in the background; there’s detail and tension from them without overbearing, just enough grip to ensure a dryness at the finish. A quintessential Barossa shiraz that offers great value 14 FEB 2024

2024–2034

Dave Brookes (James Halliday Wine Companion)

91 Points - A shiraz sourced from holdings across the Barossa that shows an inky intensity and classic regional fruit depth. Blackberry, blueberry and satsuma plum with hints of dark chocolate, fruitcake, violets, baking spice, chocolate bullets and earth. Thick across the shoulders, fine-grained ferrous tannins and a sour cherry twang to the acidity on the way out; it makes the best of its fruit sources and is solid drinking.

2021 Barossa Valley Shiraz

Stuart Knox (realreview.com)

93 Points - Ink black core into a deep purple rim. Plum preserve, dark chocolate, and wood oil aromas. Rich, weighty and dense, it packs serious intensity of black fruit with dark spices and bitter chocolate oak notes. Tannins are gravelly which is needed to balance the weight. Will live for many years and offers good value

Drink 2023 to 2034

Dave Brookes (James Halliday Wine Companion)

93 Points - An Andrew Seppelt-made blend of 92/8% shiraz/cabernet sauvignon from Ebenezer, Stone Well, Williamstown and Koonunga. Deep crimson with a purple edge and packed with ripe plum, blackberry and blueberry fruits with hints of baking spices, licorice, chocolate-dipped cherries and warm earth. Gravelly tannins are stretched tight while the fruit is opulent and shows impressive intensity and depth.

QWine (www.qwinereviews.com)

91 Points - A blend of vineyards from the northern Barossa, this is a Shiraz that brings happiness and comfort in equal doses.

Rich and generous, it reaches long and wide through the mouth. Fruit bun and brown spices, cedar, aniseed, caramel, dark chocolate and earthy nibbles, the dark fruit is wrapped up in a neat parcel. The weight calls for some hefty food to match but the length is what keeps you coming back for more. Those spices tap away dancing around the dark fruit that is planted mid-palate and seemingly refusing to move. Drying and puckering, give it some air and you have a delightfully dense expression of Barossa Shiraz.

Drink to eight years+

2020 Barossa Valley Shiraz

Huon Hooke (realreview.com)

93 Points - Dense, opaque purple/red colour, with an inky bouquet of concentrated plum and cherry-pip aromas, the palate soft and fleshy, rich and not overly tannic or structured, but approachable young in spite of its formidable concentration. A nice touch of pepper reminds us what grape we're tasting. This is excellent value for money.

Drink 2023 to 2035

2019 Barossa Valley Shiraz

Stuart Knox (realreview.com)

95 Points - Intense, deep purple core, coating the glass. Dark chocolate, aniseed and coffee aromas. The palate shows more fruit, deeply-concentrated blackberry fruit with those chocolate notes alongside a pencil shavings line. Well-considered sandy tannins cover all the corners of the mouth, carrying the package long and lingering. A well thought-out wine from the region, big but controlled

Drink 2021 to 2033

2018 Barossa Valley Shiraz

2021 Wine Companion (James Halliday)

94 Points - The deep crimson-purple colour waves the flag of a full-bodied shiraz, abounding with black fruits of every kind. The well of fruit will outdistance the generous tannin and oak contributions.

2017 Barossa Valley Shiraz

2020 Wine Companion (James Halliday)

95 Points - From two districts, hand-picked and sorted, open-fermented, 16 days on skins, matured for 16 months in new and second-use French oak. Medium to full-bodied, its power makes its presence felt without any fuss. The fruit and oak inputs are in balance, and there is acidity to lengthen the finish. 123 dozen made.

Drink by: 2025

2016 Barossa Valley Shiraz

Huon Hooke (huonhooke.com)

95 Points - Deep, dense red/purple colour with a glass-staining saturation of colour. The bouquet mirrors this with tremendous chocolaty, concentrated richness. This is also evident in the mouth where it is very rich, powerful, mouth-filling and blackberry-ish. There is some star anise and licorice, too. The wine has formidable richness. A sumptuous, bargain-priced shiraz. (1058 bottles) 30/3/2018

Drink 2018 to 2036

2019 Wine Companion (Campbell Mattinson)

92 Points - Shiraz from the Ebenezer and Greenock districts. It spent 20 months in new and second use French oak. It's a thick, syrupy red with plum, blackberry and vanilla cream characters swooshing through the palate. This is the archetypal 'smooth red', the skin of oak as important as the body of fruit.

Drink by: 2028

QWine (www.qwinereviews.com)

91 Points - Big Shiraz not for the faint-hearted. From Greenock and Ebenezer vineyards, the fruit was hand-picked, fermented on skins for 18 days and sent to new and second use oak for 20 months.

Boldly dense in the glass, generous dark fruit and berries swamp the mouth. Milk chocolate adds some finesse as fig and caramel skirt the edges. The longer it sits in the glass a touch of smoke and char reveal themselves. Cocoa like tannins to finish.
A glass of this and char grilled steak = happiness.

Drink to 2028

Tyson Stelzer (www.tysonstelzer.com)

92 Points - A dense, brooding shiraz of deep black purple potency that delivers the might of Ebenezer and Greenock without sacrificing fruit integrity or balanced poised. Deep satsuma plum, black cherry and blackberry fruits are laced with fresh liquorice straps, high cocoa dark chocolate and a hint of game. Finely structured tannins and balanced acidity provide confident support. Serve it blind to any self-respecting Barossa lover and watch them guess it's worth double the price.

Drink 2019-2021

2015 Barossa Valley Shiraz

2018 Wine Companion

95 Points - A deceptive medium-bodied shiraz that reveals more about itself each time it is retasted, in particular the intense juicy black fruits that are wrapped within folds of new French oak and supple tannins. Ostentatious? No. Classy? Yes

Drink by: 2030

James Halliday
2018 Wine Companion

Winefront (winefront.com.au)

93 Points - From Ebenezer in the Barossa Valley. Some honest-feeling Barossa Shiraz here.

Generous sort of red with just enough tannin to keep the wine in a good rhythm while also being a good sign for further maturity. The scents are a mesh of red and black berries, currants, sweet earth, leather and liquorice. The palate does a similar dance, pushing to full bodied, spicy, peppery and ripped with salty acidity and ferrous tannins. If you wanted to show people good Barossa Shiraz, this would be ideal. It’s great drinking.

Mike Bennie
Winefront, January 2017

Huon Hooke (huonhooke.com)

91 Points - Good youthful colour with strong purple tints. The bouquet has chaff, coal-dust and tar notes, while the palate is rich and intense, savoury as well as deep in fruit flavour, with excellent ripeness and balance. Abundant tannins hold it all together. A very flavoursome wine. 3/10/2017

Drink 2017 to 2030

QWine (www.qwinereviews.com)

93 Points - I've seen four of the Hayes Family Wines now and to say I'm impressed would be an understatement. Andrew Seppelt is making a bold statement with the wines he is producing under this label; a statement which I feel is considerably appealing to many wine lovers. Better still, the pricing is quite modest - best you jump in while the going is good.

This oozes Barossa. It's aroma. It's look. It's feel. Get comfy and rip in.

From the sub-region of Ebenezer comes this slick Shiraz. Dark and red berries are generous. Aromas are hypnotic with cloves interwoven effortlessly. Oak is well balanced too. Medium bodied, there's earthiness. There's spice. There's lots of satisfaction. Go here.

Drink now to eight years.