Region: South Australia
Sub Region: Barossa Valley – Ebenezer
Variety: Syrah
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2022
The Wine
Hoffmann Dallwitz is Fraser McKinley’s flagship Syrah and one of the most distinctive modern wines of the Barossa. Rather than pursuing the polished house style of a larger producer, Sami-Odi works at a minute scale, building each vintage from individual blocks and barrels within the Hoffmann family’s celebrated Dallwitz vineyard at Ebenezer.
The 2022 is a prime-cask selection drawn from three parcels: DW-OLD, planted between 1888 and 1912; ER-27, planted in 1927; and DW-95VSP, planted in 1995. These are among the Barossa’s most precious surviving Shiraz vines, providing the density of old-vine fruit alongside the freshness and energy of the younger parcel.
Twenty-four Burgundian pièces were assembled after 76 weeks of élevage. The wine was bottled in spring 2023 without fining, filtration or sparging, with every transfer completed by gravity. Production amounted to just 6,485 bottles.
The result is enormously concentrated but far from straightforward. Satsuma plum, black cherry and cassis are layered with violets, graphite, dark chocolate, fennel, anise and rich earth. Beneath the fruit sits a more distinctive savoury register of salted liquorice, black pepper, blood orange, alpine herbs and amaro-like bitterness. Fine, powdery tannins hold everything together.
Cellared Says
Power is not a dirty word here. The 2022 sits at 15.2% alcohol and makes no attempt to disguise its Barossa origins, yet the wine’s herbal lift, bitter-orange detail and superb tannins prevent it from becoming merely rich.
This is exactly why Sami-Odi has developed such a devoted following: the scale is unmistakably Barossa, but the detail and personality belong entirely to Fraser McKinley. It is a serious cellar bottle. Give it several hours in a decanter if opening now, although another five to ten years will reveal considerably more.
Reviews
“Heady concentration and perfectly poised, with powdery tannins sporting a real sense of compression and singing clearly of their northern Barossa roots.”
98 Points – Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
“The texture is slippery and deeply flavoured yet seems to lift off fine, powdery tannin and blood orange and amaro-like characters.”
95 Points – Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
Region: South Australia
Sub Region: Barossa Valley – Ebenezer
Variety: Syrah
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2022
The Wine
Hoffmann Dallwitz is Fraser McKinley’s flagship Syrah and one of the most distinctive modern wines of the Barossa. Rather than pursuing the polished house style of a larger producer, Sami-Odi works at a minute scale, building each vintage from individual blocks and barrels within the Hoffmann family’s celebrated Dallwitz vineyard at Ebenezer.
The 2022 is a prime-cask selection drawn from three parcels: DW-OLD, planted between 1888 and 1912; ER-27, planted in 1927; and DW-95VSP, planted in 1995. These are among the Barossa’s most precious surviving Shiraz vines, providing the density of old-vine fruit alongside the freshness and energy of the younger parcel.
Twenty-four Burgundian pièces were assembled after 76 weeks of élevage. The wine was bottled in spring 2023 without fining, filtration or sparging, with every transfer completed by gravity. Production amounted to just 6,485 bottles.
The result is enormously concentrated but far from straightforward. Satsuma plum, black cherry and cassis are layered with violets, graphite, dark chocolate, fennel, anise and rich earth. Beneath the fruit sits a more distinctive savoury register of salted liquorice, black pepper, blood orange, alpine herbs and amaro-like bitterness. Fine, powdery tannins hold everything together.
Cellared Says
Power is not a dirty word here. The 2022 sits at 15.2% alcohol and makes no attempt to disguise its Barossa origins, yet the wine’s herbal lift, bitter-orange detail and superb tannins prevent it from becoming merely rich.
This is exactly why Sami-Odi has developed such a devoted following: the scale is unmistakably Barossa, but the detail and personality belong entirely to Fraser McKinley. It is a serious cellar bottle. Give it several hours in a decanter if opening now, although another five to ten years will reveal considerably more.
Reviews
“Heady concentration and perfectly poised, with powdery tannins sporting a real sense of compression and singing clearly of their northern Barossa roots.”
98 Points – Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
“The texture is slippery and deeply flavoured yet seems to lift off fine, powdery tannin and blood orange and amaro-like characters.”
95 Points – Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
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