Region: Barossa Valley
Sub Region: Ebenezer
Variety: Syrah
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2013
The Wine
DW-OLD was the sole 2013 release from Sami-Odi and takes its name from the old Dallwitz block within the Hoffmann vineyard. All the old-vine material available to McKinley in 2013 went into this wine, from vines planted between 1888 and 1912 in fractured red clay and ironstone. The season was frost-affected and yields were tiny, averaging about 0.9 tons per acre. Winemaking followed McKinley’s low-intervention house style: whole bunches, pigeage, gentle maceration, natural carbonic influence, a small amount of sulphur, and 12 months in 20% new French barrique. Production was just 256 cases.
Cellared Says
I met Fraiser around the time this was made, long before the ’cult’ status had kicked in. A gentle, thoughtful winemaker who really loved finding these small plots to work with. This is a serious bottle for people who love the old-vine, small-production end of Australian wine. It has all the pedigree and all the scarcity, but more importantly it has the sort of structure that makes cellaring feel like a very good idea.
Reviews
Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, 94+ points
“There's an incredibly focused impression from this wine, delivering concentrated blackberry and black cherry aromas. The spice is gentle and there's essence-like concentration. The palate has a very smooth fleshy shape and great layering of tannins through dense fruit. It's pastry-like too, and some cola flavor chimes in. The wine has density with lightness, steady presence, great length, and the balance is faultless. The purity and sense of care, respect and understanding in the making is omnipresent, deference to the Hoffmann family who tend this superb parcel of vines. Fruit and tannins stretch long; this is a memorable rendition of classic Barossa reinvented.”
96 Points - James Suckling
Region: Barossa Valley
Sub Region: Ebenezer
Variety: Syrah
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2013
The Wine
DW-OLD was the sole 2013 release from Sami-Odi and takes its name from the old Dallwitz block within the Hoffmann vineyard. All the old-vine material available to McKinley in 2013 went into this wine, from vines planted between 1888 and 1912 in fractured red clay and ironstone. The season was frost-affected and yields were tiny, averaging about 0.9 tons per acre. Winemaking followed McKinley’s low-intervention house style: whole bunches, pigeage, gentle maceration, natural carbonic influence, a small amount of sulphur, and 12 months in 20% new French barrique. Production was just 256 cases.
Cellared Says
I met Fraiser around the time this was made, long before the ’cult’ status had kicked in. A gentle, thoughtful winemaker who really loved finding these small plots to work with. This is a serious bottle for people who love the old-vine, small-production end of Australian wine. It has all the pedigree and all the scarcity, but more importantly it has the sort of structure that makes cellaring feel like a very good idea.
Reviews
Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, 94+ points
“There's an incredibly focused impression from this wine, delivering concentrated blackberry and black cherry aromas. The spice is gentle and there's essence-like concentration. The palate has a very smooth fleshy shape and great layering of tannins through dense fruit. It's pastry-like too, and some cola flavor chimes in. The wine has density with lightness, steady presence, great length, and the balance is faultless. The purity and sense of care, respect and understanding in the making is omnipresent, deference to the Hoffmann family who tend this superb parcel of vines. Fruit and tannins stretch long; this is a memorable rendition of classic Barossa reinvented.”
96 Points - James Suckling
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