critic reviews
Poised intensity, slow and steady unroll of cola, liquorice, coffee beans, espresso, peony, raspberry, cherry bud, everything just so sleek and skilful, carved tannins. Peter Gago winemaker, Tom King director.
The 2024 RWT Bin 798 was sourced exclusively from the Barossa Valley, where the 2024 vintage performed exceptionally. The initials RWT stand for "Red Winemaking Trial," the name given to the project internally when developmental work began in the early 1990s. Now no longer a "trial," RWT Shiraz was launched in May 2000 with the 1997 vintage. Aromatically, the wine leads with a profusion of gravelly, earthy red and purple fruit, loads of tannins, pencilly oak and, just generally, loads of everything—lashings. I tend to respect the confidence of this cuvée; it is ever this way—muscly and structural, with an abundance of fruit but just as much tannin. It feels like the place more than the house. It matured for 14 months in French oak hogsheads (82% new, 18% one-year-old). 14.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.