Region: Barossa Valley
Sub Region: Barossa (multi-site)
Variety: Shiraz
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2009
The Wine
Rockford was founded by Robert O’Callaghan in the 1980s with a deliberate commitment to traditional Barossa winemaking. Basket Press is sourced from selected parcels of dry-grown old-vine Shiraz from leading Barossa growers, with vineyard material often ranging from around 60 to 130 years of age. Fruit is hand-picked, fermented in open vats, worked through traditional equipment including an old Bagshaw crusher and basket presses, then matured for around two years in seasoned French and American oak before final assemblage. It remains one of the benchmark traditional Shiraz bottlings of the region and a longstanding wine in Langton’s Classification.
Cellared Says
"Rockford can only be described as an icon, no matter how overused that word may be." James Halliday
This is classic Basket Press territory: a proper old-school Barossa red with enough maturity to be delicious now, but still with plenty of life in it. If you like Shiraz with character rather than cosmetics, this is exactly the sort of bottle you want in the cellar. A recent bottle of the 2009 was in a perfect drinking window, still vibrant with lots of vivid fruit but developing into that classic aged Barossan Shiraz style. Lovely stuff.
Reviews
Medium red-purple; this is in the heartland of Barossa Valley shiraz style, the custom-made bottle a throwback to the 1940s; the bouquet is fragrant, and hides no secrets: silky, ripe tannins, abundant blackberry and spice fruit, and oak in perfect unison. Drink by 2029. 14.5% alc.
95 points James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion
Region: Barossa Valley
Sub Region: Barossa (multi-site)
Variety: Shiraz
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2009
The Wine
Rockford was founded by Robert O’Callaghan in the 1980s with a deliberate commitment to traditional Barossa winemaking. Basket Press is sourced from selected parcels of dry-grown old-vine Shiraz from leading Barossa growers, with vineyard material often ranging from around 60 to 130 years of age. Fruit is hand-picked, fermented in open vats, worked through traditional equipment including an old Bagshaw crusher and basket presses, then matured for around two years in seasoned French and American oak before final assemblage. It remains one of the benchmark traditional Shiraz bottlings of the region and a longstanding wine in Langton’s Classification.
Cellared Says
"Rockford can only be described as an icon, no matter how overused that word may be." James Halliday
This is classic Basket Press territory: a proper old-school Barossa red with enough maturity to be delicious now, but still with plenty of life in it. If you like Shiraz with character rather than cosmetics, this is exactly the sort of bottle you want in the cellar. A recent bottle of the 2009 was in a perfect drinking window, still vibrant with lots of vivid fruit but developing into that classic aged Barossan Shiraz style. Lovely stuff.
Reviews
Medium red-purple; this is in the heartland of Barossa Valley shiraz style, the custom-made bottle a throwback to the 1940s; the bouquet is fragrant, and hides no secrets: silky, ripe tannins, abundant blackberry and spice fruit, and oak in perfect unison. Drink by 2029. 14.5% alc.
95 points James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion
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