Elderton Helbig 1915 Shiraz 2024
- 98
- $420
- Drink by: 2026-2056
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A special wine from the team, the name reflects the planting of this vineyard by the Helbig family in 1915, a single vineyard block in the Greenock sub-region, which the Elderton family acquired in 2010. Just 651 bottles were produced. Fermentation was in puncheons with the heads removed. Maturation is for a year in new French oak. Under cork, it is also a contender for heavy bottle of the year. For me, definitely one of the very best wines I’ve seen this year. A near black core, there is a maroon/magenta rim. The nose reveals aromas of plums, mulberries, vanilla, coffee beans, black cherries, mocha, new leather and dark chocolate. There is superb oak integration throughout. Balance is impeccable, length immense and the texture utterly seductive. The palate is simply dripping with chocolate. The wine finishes with the silkiest of tannins and should drink like a dream for the next twenty to thirty years.
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.
