Eight at the Gate Wrattonbully Family Selection Shiraz 2019

This fine single vineyard Shiraz, which spent 34 months maturing in a mix of new and seasoned French oak hogsheads, is my pick of the ‘Eight at the Gate’ range (the name comes from the fact that at the Lanacoona Estate in Wrattonbully, which is run by two sisters, Jane Richards and Claire Davies, their combined total of eight kids were always hanging off a fence or a gate somewhere). This was my first time tasting the wines from this producer and I was pleasantly impressed with the range – that became less of a surprise when I discovered that the winemaker was Peter Douglas. Peter was the larger than life character in charge of Wynns many years ago, so the quality of these wines is no surprise. 

An opaque magenta in colour, there is real concentration here. Black fruits, cassis notes, chocolate, dry herbs, leather, bay leaves and mulberries. A wonderful palate with saturated flavours follows – dense, yet balanced, and even rather elegant in its own way with great focus. Fine tannins provide a long, lingering finish. This will easily give you a good ten years in the cellar – I like this a lot.