Winefront Reviews
2017 Fruit Salad Block - 93 points
Couldn’t be a more appropriate name for a field blend, really. Old vines, mixed planting, co-fermented, time on skins, sent to bottle. What ho! Here’s a live one. And a good example for those who need further help with the concept of what a field blend is. Sophist wines. I like ’em. More so, this is an intriguing, delicious wine in its own right.
I bet there’s muscat or traminer in this block, for if not, something has that candied, rose petal whiff to it in the bouquet. More than that though, there’s exotic spice, ginger, ripe stone fruit, a touch of green herbs. Attractive start. The palate is hemmed with fine, saline mineral character with a light juiciness and perky acid tang giving freshness. It feels like lots is going on in its sleek, electric frame. Refreshment is high, as is personality and textural detail. What a ripper.
— Mike Bennie, winefront.com.au
2016 Primitivo - 91 points
It’s heady in dark plum, dried fruits, prune and raisin character, sniffs of dark chocolate. The palate does have a lift of fresh acidity but the flavours roll a similar way to the bouquet. It’s slick, rich, lightly syrupy, shows some suppleness to tannin and a good exit on mocha powder tannins. It’s a very good expression of primitivo, as it stands; for those seeking some generosity in their reds, but drinkability too. Nicely done.
— Mike Bennie, winefront.com.au
2017 Stonegarden Riesling - 94 points
A delightful wine. Textural, laden with flavour, long through the finish and delicious every step of the way. It packs a real flavour punch but it steps lightly; it feels soft. Sweet lime, talc, rose petals, orange blossoms. Quite an exotic thing, it is. It will age but it’s a ripper drink right now.
— Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au
94 points - 2016 the moonlight run
Blend of Barossa Valley mataro, grenache, and shiraz, pretty much in equal parts. The mataro included some stalks in the ferment. The grenache is off extremely old vines, well over 100 years (more like 150).
It’s a wild ride of flavour. It’s mid-weight, complex, charming and silken, with game, an array of dried spices, flings of roasted nuts and of course red/black berry flavours. So much to experience. Floral notes add yet more to the show. A beautiful red wine.
— Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au
2016 the eleventh hour - 93+ points
Shiraz from Greenock and Stonewell in the Barossa Valley. Open fermented, basket pressed, no new oak, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Old school Barossa, in a new school way.
Barossa shiraz is such a pleasurable beast when it’s allowed to run free. This is the famous fruit in all its deep, dark, blackberried glory. It’s fresh but intense, simple in a straight-shooting way, intricately tannic and lengthy. I’d reckon they’ve nailed it. It’s sturdy but pretty; it drinks ever-so-well.
— Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au
2016 the howling dog - 92 points
Wild ferment, 30 days skin contact, bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Dense but bright. Characterful. Iodine, blackberry, sweet cherry and a slight, smoky infusion. Like smoked dried flowers. It’s not overtly tannic but there’s enough here to give the wine shape. It’s an easy wine to like, you’d have to say, but there’s also plenty to distinguish it. Different face of the Barossa.
— Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au