Head The Brunette Shiraz 2023

For grapes to make the cut for this wine, they must come from vineyards which outperform every year and which “represent the ‘dark-side’ of Shiraz in the Barossa”. The main component comes from the Flaxman Valley which is, somewhat paradoxically for a valley, one of the higher sites in the region, planted in 1965. The colour is garnet/magenta, fading to red on the rim. The nose offers notes of leather, cassis, dark cherries, blackcurrants, ripe raspberries and a hint of bacon fat. There are delicatessen meats and herbs, with a touch of warm earth. A seamless wine which lifts on the palate, it offers laser-like focus, silky tannins and great length. Intensity throughout, but a wine which has muscle and yet exhibits such immaculate balance. Fifteen to twenty years aging potential here. A stunning Barossa Shiraz.