We look to brush away the winter cold this weekend, with a duo tasting of big bold Barossa proportions, featuring a long-time favourite in Izway alongside a close neighbouring estate that remain as highly sought-after as they are limited in availability, Standish Wine Co!
Founded by winemakers Craig Isbel and Brian Conway on the famous Seppeltsfield Road down there in Barossa's Marananga locality, Izway have continually crafted small-batch Shiraz with a single vineyard, minimal intervention approach since they opened their doors in 2002. It was from a fateful meeting in the region of Beaujolais where the two men first crossed paths, setting in motion a fruitful symbiotic partnership, which Craig continues to this day with his wife Kathryn since Brian stepped away in 2018 to pursue other projects. The Rob & Les Shiraz is a brilliant entry-point to their style, utterly plush and drinkable yet speckled with firm minerality and rich tannin structure which carries the mouthfeel along endlessly. The Bruce Shiraz takes matters to another level of complexity, with ripe and racy blackberry, dark chocolate, black olive, roasted coffee bean and a tar/graphite edge.
Next to those on the tasting table come Saturday (20th June) will be the latest and greatest from The Standish Wine Co! Dan Standish continues to build a reputation for himself as one of the great Barossa minds of the modern era, with four line-priced labels that critics and Shiraz lovers alike struggle to find close comparisons to, and for good reason. Handpicking every bit of fruit himself from some of the region's (and world's) oldest Shiraz vines, these dry-farmed vineyards that have history back to 1848 may be low-yielding, but produce a sense of concentration, breadth and length that one remembers long after the bottle is finished. Dan's rigorous selection process often means up to 80% of the original juice is declassified or dismissed if it doesn't meet the standards. 'The Standish', 'Lamella' and the 'Relic' (co-fermented with a splash of Viognier) will shine, alongside the previous 2023 vintage of 'Schubert Theorem' (the 2024 has sold out due to a far smaller yield and release allocation this year), which looks terrific with that extra year of bottle age up its sleeve. Each one available now in small quantities, and on special for the next week!
The tasting will run from our usual 12-2pm, or until bottles run dry! Drop on by, and experience firsthand some of the highest pinnacles Australian Shiraz can reach.
Izway Rob & Les Shiraz 2023 -
$30 on special this week ($35 RRP)
"The 2023 Rob & Les is fragrant, vibrant and fresh, rustic and interesting, has strong personality and as always is made with passion and energy. Aged in seasoned French oak the fruit driven characters are showcased and accentuated in this classic and bold expression of Barossa Shiraz. The energy in the wine is a testament to the season, with the purity of the fruit being a hallmark of classic Barossa Vintages. The 2023 Rob & Les is sourced primarily from two vineyards; the Kalleske Hillside Vineyard and the Hoffmann Mickans Vineyard, both located in the north of the Barossa Valley. These sites are on the famed red clays of the North, giving the wine a structure and elegance that is a hallmark of this special locale. These two vineyards complement each other perfectly and combine to produce a wine that has personality and drinkability. We believe this wine is terrific value and will age beautifully over the next 5 – 10 years." - Winemaker Notes
Izway Bruce Shiraz 2023 -
$46 on special this week ($52 RRP)
"The 2023 Bruce returns to a blend of the Barossa and Eden Valleys, and the pedigree of these vineyards is undisputed. The distinctive blend of both Valleys creates a timeless wine that can be consumed in the near and long term with equal enjoyment. Last year I noted that the 2022 Bruce was possibly the most approachable that we had released, and the 2023 has a very similar profile. The wine is soft, velvety and balanced and its texture belies its aging potential. The aromatics are alive and fresh, with the energy in the wine seemingly unmoved, even after a few days open. Black cherry, strawberry, currants and a touch of apricot entwine with coffee, five spice and star anise, making this thought-provoking and an absolute pleasure to drink." - Winemaker Notes
Standish 'The Standish' Shiraz 2024 -
$148 on special this week ($165 RRP)
(New release - very limited availability)
"The 2024 'The Standish' Shiraz is typically powerful, savory, closed and spiced here. The nose leads with sweet paprika dolce, brick dust, rose petal, black cherry and licorice. Like all the 2024 Shirazes tasted today, the palate here is silky and structural. In fact, tasting these wines side by side, The Relic is more tannic, but this is firmer, in its way. This is ever the wine in the lineup that shows a clear sense of place. It tastes like the power and the shape that the Barossa effortlessly grows from the ground up. It is impressive and impactful. Made with fruit from the Laycock family vineyard, with 50% whole bunches in the ferment, up from 30% last vintage. As usual, the Standish wines harness whole bunches as a tool for texture, structure and complexity but are rarely consumed by it." - 98 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Standish 'Lamella' Shiraz 2024 -
$148 on special this week ($165 RRP)
(New release - very limited availability)
"The 2024 'Lamella' Shiraz features 100% whole bunches, as usual, and the wine offers a profusion of tannins, spice, layers of fruit and length. This is gravelly and mineral, with ferrous tannins, graphite and dried rose petals woven through the finish. There is also a note of raw cocoa. This is a wine that you feel as much as you taste and smell. The tannins linger on the palate and help the flavors remain firmly wedged in the memory. I can still taste from one sip to the next; the bridge between mouthfuls doesn't need to be bridged by memory—it is viscerally there. Notes of licorice, fennel, caraway and timut pepper (in that fresh, grapefruit, black tea, sage, resin, pink grapefruit again, delicate, simple/singular way) coat the finish." - 98 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Standish 'The Relic' Shiraz 2024 -
$148 on special this week ($165 RRP)
(New release - very limited availability)
"The 2024 'The Relic' Shiraz-Viognier comprises 2% Viognier (destemmed, co-fermented with the Shiraz on top). Aromatically, the wine leads with red apples and cherry blossom, cranberry, pomegranate and apricot flowers. This is floral, with rose petals and violets, all of it set against the backdrop of black fruit. Freshness abounds here. In the mouth, the wine is silky, the tannins ferrous and profuse and the length typically long. This is very fine in its shape and monumentally powerful but chalky too. It is very impressive." - 98 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The new 2024 release of the Standish 'Schubert Theorem' has sold out, however we'll be pouring the final bottles of its previous vintage!
Standish 'Schubert Theorem' Shiraz 2023 -
$148 on special this week ($165 RRP)
"The 2023 The Schubert Theorem Shiraz is a gorgeous wine. It is silky, inky, pure, black as the ace of spades and long through the finish. The use of concrete egg in the fermentation/maturation stages lends the wine a sense of purity and finesse. It supports a core of crystalline fruit that is wrapped in earthy, grainy tannin and woven together with threads of saline acidity. It has rose petals, detail and delicacy, power and precision. Standish performs somewhat like a Burgundian producer—he works with one grape (I suppose two, if you count the small inclusion of Viognier in the Relic) to express different vineyard sites, soil types and elevations. There's no "declassified" fruit in these wines, no flow-on opportunities to other cuvées, just "make or break" viticulture and winemaking." - 98 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
"The '23 release of the Schubert Theorem is just gorgeous. It's kinetic. The purest of plum, black cherry and blueberry fruits stretch impossibly long on the palate, with impressive density and a real sense of grace to its travel. The edges are smooth and round here and there is a calmness as it glides across the palate, the tannins more in the powdery spectrum (and I'm sure this comes from the portion that spends its gestation in a concrete Nomblot egg). Bunch (50% or thereabouts) is bang on here, lending a golden ratio of spice, sinew and texture. But man, that pure rolling swell of fruit is the star; this is a wonderfully composed wine." - 98 Points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
If you wish to purchase any of these wines, please use the links above
Otherwise, if you have any questions, please contact us on (07)32521117 or email sales@thewineemporium.com.au
// Special prices valid until Wednesday the 24th of June