Reviewed by Gary Walsh, THE WINEFRONT 

Blewitt Springs, and the lowest crop in 50 years, says winemaker and extra on Vikings, Michael Corbett. A little more whole bunch this year, and elevage for 14 months in 2200L Slavonian caskes, from Italy, being a new thing.

This is a superb wine. It’s fresh and distinctly mineral, yet deep and concentrated. So alive. So light on its feet. It has fresh raspberry and cherry flavour, dried rose perfume, a little spice and almond. The tannin sweeps and grips, but feels almost playful. Finish is so long, bright and packed with firm graphite tannin. It’s bloody McLaren Vale G. Mascarello. I can’t believe what I’m tasting.

95 POINTS NICK BUTLER - THE REAL REVIEW
Deeply-hued colour of purple with bright crimson edges. A classic nose of blackcurrants and cedar, tobacco and dried herbs. Elegant and structured, black and blue berries unfurl from a sinewed spine of tannins and acidity. It's just delicious.

Cult Class Winery from Beechworth, producing many of Australia's Finest Wines.

This pack contains perfectly cellared Shiraz Wines from Giaconda from the 2008 vintage.
Every bottle has been stored here, since release direct from the Winery.

Pack contains

1 Bottle of the

Giaconda Estate Shiraz 2008
Well, this is quite something. Wheat and cracked pepper, dark cherry and blackberry, violet and baking spices with a dark chocolate richness. It’s medium bodied, sappy, meaty and spicy, leaning towards blackcurrant infused with truffle, but fresh enough to keep it all contained. Tannin is silty and stalky, and the finish is all savoury Syrah spice.

and two bottles of the

Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz 2008
Jeremy Oliver Rating 96!"Its peppery, spicy bouquet of deep red and black fruits, dark chocolate and gamey, cedary oak reveals hints of musk, blueberries and briar. Backed by powerful, fine-grained savoury oak, it's medium to full-bodied but densely packed with fruit and textural elements."Jeremy Oliver

There is this languid quality in the wines of 2016. In them, there is a massive quality, full-bodied with powerful aromas that hover just above the surface of the wine, instead of leaping out of the glass. It’s apparent that the wine is dense, yet soft; it has the aroma of sandalwood, and each month it shows the same grand, free quality, which seems to defy the laws of gravity. The perfume of sandalwood in the 2016 vintage softens the more typical aromas

The winemaking: all fruit was hand-sorted in the vineyard and winery, then whole-bunch pressed, with the cloudy juice transferred to a mixture of 500-litre puncheons to ferment wild. The wines were matured on their lees in barrel for eight months before blending.

Barney’s wines have gotten finer and finer, and this is a terrific example. Plenty of pulpy fruit (nectarine, peach, citrus pith) but also loads of driven freshness and just enough complexity from the lees. Really first-rate Chard and terrific value to boot

The note below sums up this deliciously sappy and juicy Pinot well.

"Wow, this is a great pinot noir. Has an almost electric pulse. Bright, cranberry and pomegranate fruit, taut and fresh, a web of charry-reductive tannins but so judiciously found. Sinew and pucker, wine drawn long, it's one for the very elemental and savoury pinot lovers. Complex and compelling wine."
94 points, Mike Bennie, The Winefront

A great glass for young Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and other racy aromatics. Also good for young Chablis, as well as lighter-bodied reds. If you are familiar with the popular Riedel Riesling/Sangiovese glass, this would be your closest match.

"One of those wines where you’re not sure if you should put in the full stops, as per the label, or without, as per the website. Anyway, this is named for D’Anna, Middleton and Lewis. Two big names right there.

It’s very pretty and refined. All fresh raspberry and red cherry, floral perfume and a dusting of spice, kind of juicy, but nicely composed, expanding and filling the mouth with flavour and gentle emery tannin, fresh and long through the finish. Wholesome feeling, classic styling, and just lovely to drink. ". Drink : 2020 - 2027+ 95 points Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

"Made from vines planted in 1968. I think whole bunches are used.

Black cherry, pepper and bacon bits, dried herbs and flowers, and vanilla. It’s spicy, nutty and meaty, black fruit and tar, but quite lively and firm too. Savoury over fruit sweet, though it does have a fair volume of blood plum and black fruit. Finish is spicy and wheaty, some sour cherry. Individual style. Nicely done."

Rated : 93 Points Winefront.com.au

A fresh and perfumed nose, violets the leading impression over musk and blue fruit.  The palate is rounded with great shape and feel in the mouth, and while the acid profile adds freshness and a precision to the flavours, the wine is by no means austere or lacking generosity.  Flavour-wise it’s pretty classic Barossa Shiraz, full of black fruits, dried herbs and earth.  Works as a young drinker or will certainly reward a few years down.