Sorby Adams The Vicar of Toft Barossa Shiraz 2022

Named in honour of the Reverend Augustus Crichton Adams, the Vicar of Toft in Cheshire in England from 1866 to 1882, the good Reverend married into the Sorby family before taking up his post. Winemaker, Simon Adams, is a fourth-generation descendant. The fruit used here is sourced from vineyards in the Ebenezer and Moppa sub-regions of the Barossa. Maturation was for three years in French oak hogsheads, 30% of which were new. The tight-grained hogsheads had spent four years air drying. They are from the famous French coopers, Francois Frere and Taransaud.  Under Diam. Opaque maroon with a dark purple rim, this is ripe and powerful with good concentration throughout. The nose exhibits notes of chocolate, black cherries, coffee beans, cocoa powder, fresh beetroot, warm soil, cold tea, mocha, mulberries, blackberries and, did I mention, oodles of chocolate. The texture is soft and supple. The wine has excellent focus and serious length. A cracking Barossa Shiraz for drinking over the next twenty years.The scary thing about this wine is that Toft is my mother’s maiden name, the family rather concerningly hailing from down the road to Cheshire, and if she ever finds out that we had a vicar in the family, it will most certainly reinforce her oft-stated opinion that anyone involved in wine has sadly lost their way and is destined to spend eternity in the hot place. Fortunately, winemaker Simon Adams appears to have no such demons in his family, and we can all enjoy this wine thanks to that.