95 points - "Deep, dark and saturated red-purple hue; there are sweet floral, dried herb, almost jammy berry, almost cassis aromas, while the palate is full-bodied and slightly uneven in its flow, but the flavours are excellent and there is a kick of astringency on the finish that is part of the firming wave of tannins that complete the back-palate. Plush, opulent, very ripe fruit. An attention grabbing style of shiraz that has a big future." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

95 points - "There’s a lot going on here, that’s for sure. It’s a mesh of ripe blue and black fruit, grilled meat, pepper and spice, dried herbs and juniper berry, seaweed, and dried flower perfume. It’s medium-bodied, meaty and spicy, sweet fruit but also strewn with aromatic spice and herb, tannin is grainy and silty, and there’s something of an olive tapenade thing, and gentle bitterness of orange peel, almost Negroni-like, and the finish is long with plenty of grip and extract. Very good. As an aside, stylistically this might be called ‘Syrah’, though I like that S+S have stuck to the knitting and kept its Australian name." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

95 points - "Offers a reflection of local terroir with a telling and highly attractive touch of Hills’ acacia, briar, mint and earth snuggling up to ripe black fruits and an array of spices. Runs long across the palate opening up to cedary oak nicely integrated among the fruits, spice and featuring an intriguing marzipan-like savouriness before finishing with a touch of bright black pepperiness. That peppery feature helps lift what is some seriously concentrated, deep flavour. A wine that really asks for more time in bottle." - Jeni Port (Wine Pilot)

Style
As always this wine has a unique look that speaks of place and its vintage. A cool year and small yields makes for a wine full of intensity. A complex nose of dried herbs, spice, Kalamata olive brine and smoked meats. Long and ripe tannins built for aging.

Vineyard
From close-planted (5,500 vines/hectare) low yielding vines from block two at Shaw + Smith’s Balhannah Vineyard, planted in 2005. It has a north-facing aspect and the soils are loam over clay, ironstone, quartzite, and shale.

Season
Another cooler than average season with some influence from La Niña weather patterns. The season was cool to begin with, which meant a smaller crop formed during fruit-set. Then it was a mild summer that warmed up towards the end, adding flavour and ripeness to the fresh acidity.

Vinification
Hand-picked and hand-sorted. Aged for 14 months in 500 to 600 litre French oak barrels, 15% new, followed by a further 14 months in bottle.
Cellar
Will reward careful cellaring for up to 15 years.