Arila Gardens Quartz and Ironstone Gardens Shiraz 2020

My immediate thought with this Shiraz was that if these guys are making wines this good from 2020, I can’t wait to see their 2021s. Again from the Moppa subregion, the vines planted back in 1940, this is a joy. 

Opaque/black/purple in colour (if that is a colour), this is plush and layered. Richly flavoured, complex and gorgeously textured. This could only be first class Barossa Shiraz. Notes of cassis, soy, licorice, black fruits and chocolate. The palate may be dense but it dances. There is balance and length here, serious length. Wonderful stuff. If you can keep your hands off it, the wine has twenty years ahead of it. When I went back to look at past thoughts on previous vintages, I found I had given these wines exactly the same scores for their 2019s, so they are nothing if not consistent.