The Barossa is arguably one of Australia's most renowned winegrowing regions, and remains a key reference when anyone talks about Australian wines or wants to compare wines from Down Under with that of other key international regions from Bordeaux, the Rhone, to Napa Valley and the Tuscans, Maipo Valley, Rioja and Stellenbosch - the Barossa Valley is up there.

And when we journey into the Barossa, we're certainly never short on qualified names that would easily find its place in any sort of Aussie hall of fame, one of whom is that of St Hallett. St Hallett had been established officially in 1944, but in reality, has been carried on by the Lindner family for much longer. Today they remain one of the most established names in the Barossa, most notably known for their old vine Shiraz.

The Barossa.

A Brief History Of St Hallett; And More Importantly How It Became A Barossa Icon

The Lindner family had first come to the Barossa from what was once Silesia (modern day Poland), and had settled in the valley in 1838. In their early years, the family, like many others in the region, had largely focused on producing fortified wines, and hence formally traces their earliest winemaking to 1944. Now things weren't easy, yet the family persevered on, mastering the art of managing their vines and producing their fortified wines of port, sherries and marsala, all out of a little shed that they called their family cellar - it was humble yet honest work!

Yet by the 1970's, sensing that times were changing, the family began to turn towards producing drinking table wines - the sort we enjoy from St Hallett today. This meant that they not only needed to reinvent themselves, but that they would need some extra help - they would enlist the work of Robert O'Callaghan (who would later start his own Rockford Winery). Robert was a top notch winemaker and could immediately spot that the family, even as they relinquished their making of fortified's, were actually sitting on something incredibly prized - having been family-owned for several generations, the Lindner's were now in possession of some incredibly old vines! These were also largely dry farmed, which meant that in the absence of readily available irrigation, the vines had had to tussle it out and dig deep into the sandy and clay heavy, loamy soils. This had the effect of being able to produce some incredibly rich and intense fruit that were also able to properly express a truly pure sense of the St Hallett terroir!

Incredibly prized 100 year old Shiraz vines.

Robert's first move was to make sure these 100 year old Shiraz vines were protected and properly tended to. With these incredibly historic parcels of old vines, Robert would produce the first St Hallett Old Block Shiraz in 1980 to great acclaim. These full-bodied, intense and textured wines were a big hit in Australia, and by the late 1980's, the winery would further enlist the efforts of Bob McLean, who would serve as a crucial ambassador of these iconic Shiraz's to the international wine community - this earned and grew the legions of fans of St Hallett's Old Block Shiraz.

Amongst many great things that Robert, better known as Bob, had done for the St Hallett story was to also help get local artist Rod Schubert to produce the paintings that would feature on the labels of St Hallett that have now become part of the winery's signature look.

For Most Producers Shiraz Is The End, For St Hallett Shiraz Is Only The Beginning

With time, St Hallett would further develop its relationship with multi-generational growers across the Barossa, allowing the winery to work closely with growers to secure a wider variety of parcels of old vine fruit that could add to the complexity of the Old Block Shiraz when properly assembled. The variety of microclimates and terroirs across the Barossa showed that different characteristics of Shiraz's could be produced. These distinctive aspects of the same Shiraz grown across the Barossa, all old vines, could create a much more representative vision for what the region had to offer. A great example of this is the differences in Barossa Valley and Eden Valley Shiraz - the Barossa is lower altitude and towards the valley floor, producing incredibly ripe and black fruit driven fruit, whereas Eden Valley was higher altitude and much cooler, producing fruit that was brighter, with more florals and spices for aromatics, as well as possessing smoother tannins and more acidity.

The classic St Hallett Old Block Shiraz would eventually be refined to a blend of 51% Barossa and 49% Eden Valley Shiraz, all of which sourced from vines at least 45 years old, with the more recent modern vintages sporting vines with an average age of a whopping 96 years old! Till this day, a big part of the effort from St Hallett is continuing to work with growers in long term relationships where the winery supports the nurturing of old Shiraz vines to developing their long term potential.

And although along the way, the winery has dabbled into old vine Grenache and Riesling, it's desire to be thought of as a fully committed and dedicated old vine Shiraz specialist has meant that the these alternative varietals have fallen away as a point of focus for St Hallett. (Although we've heard that the Old Vine Grenache Rose is incredible, so if you ever chance upon it, run, don't walk!)

St Hallett today.

Ultimately, St Hallett has come a long way, and continues to hold his strong reputation in producing incredibly fine old vine Shiraz's from Australia's Barossa Valley, and in more recent years have shown a greater effort towards wanting to develop its single vineyard expressions, as well as continuing to refine their inky wines, proving that Barossa can do elegance, just as it can do big, fruit, super ripe reds. 

With all that said, today we're going to try four red's from St Hallett - the Faith Shiraz, the Gamekeeper's Shiraz and Gamekeeper's Shiraz Grenache Touriga, and of course, the famous St Hallett Old Block Shiraz!

Let's go!

Wine Review: St Hallett Faith Shiraz 2023   

St Hallett's Faith belongs to the winery's core range, and was so named after the proverbial leap of faith that the early Lindner's took to leave Europe for the Barossa - it also represents the entry range of wines to get you acquainted with St Hallett. This is fully Shiraz, and comes from the Barossa, with soils that are characterised by black Biscay soils and red clay. Unlike most Barossa wines, St Hallett has aged this in a combination of American and French Oak, so we should see some of that additional richness.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Ruby

Aroma: Deep aromas of roses and fresh soil, it's completely evocative with really good power and intensity. More on raspberry jams, giving it this additional depth and richness. It also feels rather pure and rustic, yet well defined and clean around its outline.

Taste: Medium-bodied, good richness here, it's very cohesive. Those same roses, raspberries and soil, they all come together very nicely here, well integrated and coming in all together with good unity. There's a light minerality to it too, as well as some freshness with this gentle acidity.

Finish: The acidity carries through into the finish, as does the minerality. The roses and raspberries continue to keep their richness and persists into the finish as well.

My Thoughts

A very elegant yet fuller bodied red. This had all the markings of a Bordeaux, yet delivered clearly as a Barossa. It's not just the standard thick, jammy, big stuff that Barossa is perhaps best known for, here there's a refinement about it. That's rendered through this very well defined structure it's got that holds it together with great definition, clean around the outline, very stylish and neat around the curves, yet at the same time holding in all of that pure, rustic boldness. Despite the superb richness and cohesiveness, it's well balanced and isn't just fruit, there's also that floral lift and the freshness of earthy soils, even alittle minerality and acidity that keeps its bright and approachable without losing any richness or power.

Wine Review: St Hallett Old Block Shiraz 2018

Now we come to the iconic St Hallett Old Block - this is the 2018 vintage, and the 36th release of the Old Block! As we talked about earlier, the focus for Old Block is to showcase these extraordinarily old vines that channel through them the full purity of the Barossa's terroir, all vines here have to be at least 40 years old, and in reality most reach over 90 years old in fact, and for added measure, these all have to be un-grafted, and so the rootstock and the vine is completely original and intact (as opposed to having old roots but a younger vine clone attached to it). These vines naturally don't produce high yields at this point, and thus the fruits that do get produced are concentrated and alot richer. 

The Old Block has since its release in 1980, shifted towards not just a desire by St Hallett to showcase the terroir, but also to demonstrate balance and complexity and hence also contains fruit from Eden Valley, from vines that fit the same bill. The fruit from each parcel is harvested and fermented individually, after which they go into French oak barrels (25% new on average) for about 12-18 months, after which they are blended.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Great depth, there's a deep and rich aroma of fresh and vivid earthiness of toiled soil, tobacco, animal hide, cloves, nutmeg, as well as some cacao. At the core of it is a combination of raspberries and cassis, in the form of jams and fruit leather. Garnishing the top note are some potpourri and roses. It's incredibly perfumed and vibrant, yet with a great richness and depth. It's very much complete and expressive, with superb intensity.

Taste: Superb richness, it's plush and velvety, satin-like in texture with fine yet firm tannins. There's that big chocolate note, backed up by blackcurrants, blackberries and raspberries. It's completely expressive and open, relaxed yet vibrant and energetic at this juncture. Really silky. It's almost jammy yet showcasing a good bit of restraint in the face of all that deep richness. Some earthiness of tobacco and soil, the chocolates develop into a mocha and cocoa powder note, also some barnyard hay, giving it more layered complexity and textural nuance. Really ripe, yet structured, with a great concentration.

Finish: The spices of cloves, nutmeg and pepper emerge more prominently into the finish, with more on raspberries, red currants and blackcurrants continuing to display richly. There's a more minty quality of eucalyptus as well, along with hay. It's incredibly plush and rich into the finish, with lingering aromatics of roses and raspberries staying on.

My Thoughts

This is one heck of a wine! Wow! It's incredibly rich, powerful, complex yet so elegant and structured. It's thoroughly impressive how firm and fortified it's structure is that holds so much together so consistently throughout the tasting experience! This doesn't just push through with a rush of heavy fruit jams, it makes a big presence, bold and rich, and then almost calmly holds its place whilst opening up and developing into shades of earthiness, herbaceousness, spices, rusticity. It's almost as if the mix of red and black fruit is the core, and through that extends out layers of these flavour and textural nuances. It's not flabby, instead sporting a chiselled quality, that again reverberates through these layers a firm, almost steely fortitude. To my mind, this almost feels like a skyscraper - such a big presence, layers upon layers, yet held together by this substantially durable structure, the aesthetics of which is at once muscular yet elegant.

Incredibly, incredibly tasty. It's truly a wine unto it's own, very impressive red that's rich and bold, yet well defined and structured. This would go perfectly with grilled red meats and seafood, and toss in some grilled vegetables with that too!

Wine Review: St Hallett Gamekeeper's Shiraz 2022

We're back to the Barossa with St Hallett's Gamekeeper's range, which centers on Barossa fruit (so no Eden Valley to be had here). The name itself comes from an homage to the role of the Gamekeeper in maintaining a healthy balance of wildlife on an estate. This Barossa Shiraz comes from over one hundred parcels of vineyards, each vinified separately and then blended to produce this cuveee.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Ruby

Aroma: It opens up really earthy and rustic, freshly toiled soil, tobacco, as well as some barnyard of animal hide. Really aromatic. There's also a shade of greenness of green pepper, as well as a mineral quality to it as well.

Taste: More fruit driven here, with raspberries, blackberry and currants, rich and fuller. It's got great concentration and depth here with a light tartness of that acidity coming through. A sprinkle of black pepper coats the fruit.

Finish: A long finish, the richness persistent. It's more jammy here with some firm tannins.

My Thoughts

This is much more straightforward, more fruit driven, much closer to the classic Barossa style of being bold, inky, decadent and rich, with lots of black fruit in particular. That said, what it trades off in complexity, it gets in richness and depth - this is very much a full-bodied red, that's plush and jammy, less detail on the structure, but a big one no less! A very solid pick for an entry level daily drinker! It most certainly delivers that super ripe and bold richness.

Wine Review: St Hallett Gamekeeper's Shiraz Grenache Touriga 2022

We come to the next of St Hallett's Gamekeeper's range - and also our first Shiraz blend from St Hallett! This one's an SGT - that is Shiraz Grenache Touriga. That last one is very interesting because Touriga Nacional is a grape varietal that you're much more likely to find in Portugal, and is most typically used for those full bodied fortified Port wines instead. And so the thinking here, as per St Hallett, is that you've got their very classic Shiraz of course, then the Grenache adds more juicy red fruits, and then the Touriga gives more florals and spices. Very, very exciting - if you're a Rhone Valley fan, this one should definitely speak out to you.

And also further to the whole idea behind calling this range the Gamekeeper's is that back in the day, St Hallett had produced a range called Poacher's, which featured old vine white wines (those rare ones, I mentioned earlier), and so because you can't have a poacher without a gamekeeper on a bonafide hunting reserve, thus the Gamekeeper's was launched to feature red wines in what was a companion to the whites - although we certainly hope they bring back those old vine whites!   

Tasting Notes

Colour: Dark Ruby

Aroma: Richer still, this is notably really cohesive, bounding together in rich and mellow fashion aromas of soil, tobacco, animal hide, incredibly rounded, further outlined by roses and raspberries, with alittle jam in the mix too.

Taste: Good richness here, it's certainly more perky and energetic, the blackcurrants here are soft, with a more pronounced hit of dark cherries and vanilla sauce. It's soft and rich, with a darker toned body and a brighter bitg of confectionaries coming together. It's got this rustic purity to it, that barnyard quality is very aromatic and evocative. It also feels more taut with some more tension to the body here.

Finish: More on black tea tannins, upon which there's that blackcurrant and raspberries, even alittle bit of green bell peppers. It's a long finish, with the moderate richness carrying through with some acidity that begins to emerge.

My Thoughts

This certainly had that rustic quality that I so love in Grenache and Shiraz (or Syrah) blends - I've always found that barnyard quality to be beautifully pure and vividly reminiscent of the naturalness of the countryside.

On the whole, this definitely felt notably more rounded and cohesive as compared to the Gamekeeper's Shiraz, also coming across more fresh and youthful, with a more energetic and tauter body. I found this to be more balanced and accessible, even if it does forgo some of the depth and richness that we got previously.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot