Hatch Barossa St Johns’ Shiraz 2022

One thing I learnt about Hatch with this latest batch of wines is that he is a big jazz fan – not something we share, but if people really want to listen to a cage of starving cats caught in a car wreck, who am I to deny them. Just as long as they can make wines like this. The St Johns vineyard is one of the most elevated in the Barossa, at 300 metres. Bordering such famous sub-regional names as Koonunga, Moppa and Ebenezer, the fruit is fermented on skins in small, open top fermenters for five to ten days. This is a deep magenta. Notes of dry herbs, cloves, black fruits, aniseed, mulberries and tobacco leaves plus some cassis on the palate. This is a little more savoury in style and at this early stage, exhibits fractionally more oak influence with good grip and excellent length. Enjoy over the next eight to ten years.