Welland Old Hands Barossa Valley Shiraz 2018

The home of this wine is the unique Welland vineyard, which sits surrounded by houses in the town of Nuriootpa. Much of the original vineyard, which was planted by the Krieg family in 1923, is now gone; the last remaining vines now surrounded by houses. And the wine has an old vine heart – that richness of fruit flavour that only decades in the earth can bring.

Deeply coloured and flavoured, it’s a broody little number. Liquorice allsorts, cocoa , tar and black fruits are on display although they are still bound up in the wine – it’s just teasing on where it will be in ten years. Dry and full-bodied, the palate is then dense but also lively; fruit has been beautifully handled in the winery to gently extract flavour to create a balanced and surprisingly elegant Barossan expression. There’s fantastic length and also understated power that will see this wine sing for a decade and more.