When choosing wines to accompany a summer barbeque you need to select wines with sufficient power and richness to stand up to big meat and smoke flavours in an outdoor environment, on these scores you can’t go far wrong with a classic Barossa Shiraz. Huge all engulfing black fruit is the regional style here with earthy, leather and spice complexity, supported by big but smooth tannins, buckets of warmth and richness and a long cedar and red fruit finish – these are muscular uncompromising wines.
In terms of Barossa winemaking pedigree, Glen Eldon’s Richard Sheedy’s is as good as it gets. Before setting up Glen Eldon in 1997, Richard worked at St Hallets and was then winemaker and general manager at Elderton. Much of the approach used in building the reputation of these two classic Barossa producers shine forth from Glen Eldon’s wines. Superb quality fruit from warm sites in the valley floor (Tanunda) is intelligently combined with batches from cooler sites in the Barossa Ranges (Springton, Mt McKenzie and Mt Pleasant) giving both richness and balance.
Winemaking takes place in traditional open fermenters with heading down boards and the wines age for up to 2 years in a combination of French and American oak. The quality of these wines is unquestionably high, their style is typically Barossa with big dense fruit, perfumed oak, plenty of warming richness.
These are excellent wines, but are not well known beyond their region of origin, so to tempt you to give them a go we thought we’d give you a little encouragement – so for August and September we are offering Glen Eldon’s 2002 and 2003 Shirazes at HALF PRICE! These wines are both fully mature and will make perfect partners for the juicy steaks that slide from your grill!
Tasting notes
“…the 2002 Dry Bore Shiraz appears to be a winner. This 100% Shiraz from both the Eden and Barossa Valleys was aged 24 months in small French and American foudres. A dense purple color is followed by gorgeous aromas of creme de cassis, and full-bodied, full-throttle, well-balanced blackberry and currant flavors intermixed with licorice, tar, and pepper.” 91-94/100 Robert Parker Junior
“The 2003 Shiraz Dry Bore is a full-throttle effort aged 24 months in a combination of French and American hogsheads. Its opaque ruby/purple color is accompanied by aromas of loamy soil, pepper, herbs, black currants, and berries. Spicy, rich, slightly rustic, but impressively endowed, it should drink well for a decade or more.” 91-93/100 Robert Parker Junior
Price inc VAT per dzn was £401.66 now £200.74, was £33.47 per btl now £16.73 until the end of September 2014.
Prices are inclusive of VAT and delivery to most UK addresses is free for orders over £250.
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