Region: Barossa Valley
Sub Region: Ebenezer – Hoffmann Dallwitz Vineyard
Variety: Syrah
Country: Australia
Vintage: Multi-Vintage / NV
The Wine
Little Wine #14 is one of Fraser McKinley’s most ambitious multi-vintage blends, incorporating Syrah from an extraordinary ten growing seasons. The assemblage comprises 2024 (37%), 2023 (32%), 2022 (12%), 2021 (8%), 2020 (4%), 2019 (3%), 2018 (1%), 2017 (2%), with 2016 and 2015 making up the remaining 1%.
Fruit comes from five parcels within the Hoffmann family’s Dallwitz Vineyard, with vines planted in 1996, 1995, 1994 and 1927 alongside the pre-1912 old vines. Only 6,132 bottles were filled.
The blend illustrates exactly why the Little Wine concept works. The 2024 and 2023 components bring perfume, freshness and vivid fruit, while progressively older material adds savoury complexity and depth. Dark plum, black cherry, boysenberry and blueberry are layered with raspberry pip, anise, tapenade, turned earth, dried flowers and exotic spice.
There is impressive breadth through the palate, yet the defining feature is the interplay between fine acidity and tightly woven, sandy tannin. The wine is concentrated without being cumbersome and already beautifully integrated.
Cellared Says
Little Wine #14 is a terrific example of Fraser McKinley’s skill as a blender. Ten vintages sounds complicated on paper; in the glass it feels remarkably coherent. There is proper old-vine Barossa depth here, but also freshness and detail that stop it becoming heavy. One of the strongest Little Wine releases I’ve tasted.
Reviews
“Deep, dark Doris plum, black cherry, boysenberry and blueberry… fine acidity and tight, fine, sandy tannin.”
97 Points – Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
“That dark fruit note and the tannins that encase it are graphite and gravel, clove and star anise.”
97 Points – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
“Fresh and perfumed… blackcurrants, mocha, tobacco leaves, spices and iodine.”
96 Points – James Suckling
Region: Barossa Valley
Sub Region: Ebenezer – Hoffmann Dallwitz Vineyard
Variety: Syrah
Country: Australia
Vintage: Multi-Vintage / NV
The Wine
Little Wine #14 is one of Fraser McKinley’s most ambitious multi-vintage blends, incorporating Syrah from an extraordinary ten growing seasons. The assemblage comprises 2024 (37%), 2023 (32%), 2022 (12%), 2021 (8%), 2020 (4%), 2019 (3%), 2018 (1%), 2017 (2%), with 2016 and 2015 making up the remaining 1%.
Fruit comes from five parcels within the Hoffmann family’s Dallwitz Vineyard, with vines planted in 1996, 1995, 1994 and 1927 alongside the pre-1912 old vines. Only 6,132 bottles were filled.
The blend illustrates exactly why the Little Wine concept works. The 2024 and 2023 components bring perfume, freshness and vivid fruit, while progressively older material adds savoury complexity and depth. Dark plum, black cherry, boysenberry and blueberry are layered with raspberry pip, anise, tapenade, turned earth, dried flowers and exotic spice.
There is impressive breadth through the palate, yet the defining feature is the interplay between fine acidity and tightly woven, sandy tannin. The wine is concentrated without being cumbersome and already beautifully integrated.
Cellared Says
Little Wine #14 is a terrific example of Fraser McKinley’s skill as a blender. Ten vintages sounds complicated on paper; in the glass it feels remarkably coherent. There is proper old-vine Barossa depth here, but also freshness and detail that stop it becoming heavy. One of the strongest Little Wine releases I’ve tasted.
Reviews
“Deep, dark Doris plum, black cherry, boysenberry and blueberry… fine acidity and tight, fine, sandy tannin.”
97 Points – Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
“That dark fruit note and the tannins that encase it are graphite and gravel, clove and star anise.”
97 Points – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
“Fresh and perfumed… blackcurrants, mocha, tobacco leaves, spices and iodine.”
96 Points – James Suckling
Image 1 of 1
