Bethany GR Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz 2018
- 96
- $125
- Drink by: 2024 - 2038
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Cracking Barossa shiraz from a superb vintage. Bethany identify their very finest shiraz for this wine and it shows. This is surely one of the very best wines made by Geoff and Robert Schrapel. It is made with fruit from a small patch of old vines – 80 to 100 years of age – from near the foothills of the Barossa Ranges which have proven themselves worthy over many years. The grapes went to four tonne fermenters, before being matured in a mix of 70% new French and American oak for 18 months. A percentage of whole berries were included.
This is inky black with crimson rims. Dense and chocolatey with real concentration and coiled power, yet always maintaining balance and never becoming too heavy. Great aromatics. Black fruits, liquorice, mocha and coffee bean notes. There is a delightful freshness to match with those silky, velvety tannins. There is oak, but the fruit simply sucks it up and asks for more. The plushness cannot hide the classic structure and this is a wine for the long haul, or enjoy it as soon as suits you. Gorgeous either way.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
