Lone Palm Vineyard Selection Barossa Valley Shiraz 2023
- 96
- $250
- Drink by: 2025-2040
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This is the icon of the range from this team – I had not realised that when tasting but there is no doubt it stood out as very special. That was immediately evident. The fruit comes from Marananga, Stonewell, Greenock and Seppeltsfield – Barossa names don’t come much bigger! A portion of whole bunches are included and the wine spends twenty months in a mix of French and American hogsheads. The final wine is a barrel selection. A dark maroon hue here, the nose exhibits notes of chocolate, blackcurrants, bay leaves, smoked meats, plums, cloves, mocha and mulberries. There is still plenty of evidence of toasty oak, with integration well underway. A wine which treads the tightrope between power and refinement and does it majestically. After time in the glass, we also see the emergence of rose petals and cassis. This is really good stuff. There are signs of early complexity, which one can reasonably expect to grow over time. Seamless, supple and seductive, there are silky tannins and serious length. Superb. It is the extra refinement which sets it apart. Ten to fifteen years of pleasure ahead of it.
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.
