A stunning release for The Standish; possibly the best yet. The shiraz is impenetrable and vital in the glass. Aromas layer like light in a landscape painting: rich and wonderfully pure satsuma plum, blueberry and blackberry fruits flecked with raspberry-pip high tones and deeply etched with exotic spice, dried citrus rind, licorice, peppercorn, pressed meadow flowers and roast meats, with an ever-present yet liminal ferrous glance that oversees the fruit. On the palate, these flavours build with a captivating purity and focus, speaking clearly of their western Barossa roots, before releasing with resonance and great sustain, like a slowly drawn bow across a cello string. A beautiful release for this wine: fruit, depth, fine ferrous tannins, velocity and a clear sense of place, with solid cellaring potential. Superb.

The 2024 The Standish Shiraz is typically powerful, savory, closed and spiced here. The nose leads with sweet paprika dolce, brick dust, rose petal, black cherry and licorice. Like all the 2024 Shirazes tasted today, the palate here is silky and structural. In fact, tasting these wines side by side, The Relic is more tannic, but this is firmer, in its way. This is ever the wine in the lineup that shows a clear sense of place. It tastes like the power and the shape that the Barossa effortlessly grows from the ground up. It is impressive and impactful. 14.9% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

The 2024 The Standish Shiraz was made with fruit from the Laycock family vineyard (the fruit for the 2026 vintage is being picked today, as I stand in the winery with Dan and taste), in Greenock, with 50% whole bunches in the ferment, up from 30% last vintage. I always say that the best amount of whole bunches for me is as much as I can taste; this simple means that whole bunches from Barossa taste the same as whole bunches from Rhône, and both obscure the place in which the fruit was grown. Since that sense of place is at the heart of why I buy, drink and collect wine, I prefer it not to dominate the drinking experience. As usual, the Standish wines harness whole bunches as a tool for tex(more...)