Schwarz Wine Co. / Barossa Valley, Sa

85% Grenache and 15% Mataro, from vines planted 1969 and 1974 respectively. Clear Provence influence in being pale and dry, though brings its own personality with building texture due to time in seasoned oak. Flavourwise, plenty of interest and complexity, spanning wild strawberry, peach, red apples and the faintest suggestion of burnt sugar. Given our rosé enthusiasm, it’s a wine that’s always stood tall alongside our French offerings, consistently a solid wine, with this year’s release a true cracker.

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The lone white of the stable, very much in keeping with Jason’s approach of freshness and drinkability, weighing in at a most modest 12% alcohol.  Gentle, crisp and refreshing, this release sees some mouthfilling texture. Green apples, honeysuckle, hay and pear, with nice length and concentration. A wine which goes strength to strength with every release.

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A fresh and perfumed nose, violets the leading impression over musk and blue fruit.  The palate is rounded with great shape and feel in the mouth, and while the acid profile adds freshness and a precision to the flavours, the wine is by no means austere or lacking generosity – if anything 2021 sees this cuvee packing on a little more muscle.  Flavour-wise it’s pretty classic Barossa Shiraz, full of black fruits, dried herbs and earth.  Works as a young drinker or will certainly reward a few years down.

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52% Grenache, 42% Shiraz, 6% Mataro, from a number of different Barossa sub regions and growers with long-standing relationships with Schwarz.  One of our most perpetually crowd pleasing wines whatever one’s tastes – medium bodied, fresh, bright fruited with a sweet/savoury/earthy pull, super versatile.

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Brightness plus though has some flesh on its bones, leaps out the glass with roasted beetroot, blood plums, cherries, and a charcuterie/dried meats note.  The well-poised palate offers up cola, turned earth, dried orange, cherries and a shake of baking spice.  Tannins are fine and have a succulence, a lovely red of mid weight and broad appeal.

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As fine and elegant as ever, a Grenache for Pinot drinkers. Deep ruby in colour, leading with beetroots, stewed rhubarb, Turkish delight, and the whole bunch component contributing peppercorns. A little talc mineral in there too, plus elements of cola and raspberry lollies. Light and bright on the palate with fine succulent tannins, easy to drink but maintains its presence, with nice length on the finish giving it an air of seriousness.

“Wonderfully complex and engaging, the bouquet shows dark berry, bay leaf, cured meat and toasted almond notes, leading to a gorgeously supple palate that’s expansive and persistent. Well supported by refined texture and fine-grained tannins, finishing long and structured.” 95 points, Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

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Hand picked, wild yeast, 26% whole bunch, unfined and unfiltered.  13.8% alc. 208dozen produced.

Big time aromatics here, varietal black cherry over pepper and some alluring meaty/bacon character.  An array of black fruits on the palate, a sweet and saline interplay, brambly even but ultra fresh.  Maintains fineness of persona over so much fruit power, with a fresh acid driven finish over fine ripe tannin and stony mineral.  Wines such as this show just what an exciting and pleasurable variety this can be.

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Typically the most structured of the Shiraz wines made by Schwarz.  Elegantly complex, a broad spectrum of aromatics and flavours here – beef stock and pan juices, coffee and cocoa, and a Bouquet Garni herbal thread from the whole bunch component.  Fruit-wise, firmly in the blue fruits spectrum of blueberries and damson plums (Schwarz assure the label colour is incidental rather than deliberate power of suggestion!  Eden Valley fruit has a big hand in this.)  There’s a gentle but persistent tannic framework, a slightly finer release than some vintages.  Brains over brawn here, but no lack of concentration or length, and a definite air of sophistication.

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The Meta Grenache Blanc comes from Jason’s family’s block in Bethany, Barossa Valley. Grown by Mark Schwarz and Pauline Schwarz, this beautifully refreshing Grenache Blanc shows subtle aromas of yellow pear, apricot & white peach. The front pallet is tight and minerally, gradually opening to flavours of honeysuckle, white nectarine, and blood orange.

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The wine where it all began – Jason approached his father to buy some of his Nitschke Block fruit in 2001, producing two hogsheads.  This dry grown vineyard produces intense and clear flavours, maximized here by smart winemaking and a restrained use of oak. Schwarz’s most classically styled Barossa Shiraz, though the house style of freshness, fineness and balance reigns supreme this release.

A savoury expression drinking well out of the box, though time will be its friend.  Creosote and Barossan earth lead the nose, and as per the Meta Shiraz a beefy theme – bonox/masterstock.  A dark spectrum of fruit runs through, black cherries and blackberry alongside clove and liquorice, with pouch tobacco and leather impressions.  A lovely, persistent tannic structure defines this release and sets it up well as a food wine, particularly for rich braises and slow cooked meats.  Plenty of power without undue weight and a wine well benefitting from a long decant when drunk young; perhaps atypical for Barossa Shiraz a wine showing a low winemaking fingerprint, the oak is beautifully integrated, drinks with an appealing purity.

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Pours an inviting shade of ruby.  Aromatically dense though restrained with fresh and stewed raspberrries, star anise and clove, and a poke of vanillin and raspberry tea.  In the mouth, poised and crisp.  Previous vintages have elicited comments of a Nebbiolo-esque tannic structure which is certainly showing here, firm but not at all dominating.  Flavour-wise, gentle raspberry and cherry fruits wash through with cola, nicely integrated oak and the tiniest hint of turmeric and cardamom.  Gentle yet persistent and well defined.

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Jason stumbled on this plot of 400 Shiraz vines planted by Carl August Otto Schiller, dated to around 1881.  Earmarked for bulldozing, Jason’s offer to buy the fruit would see these ancient vines remain in the ground.

Too often, winemakers throttle their ‘reserve’ or flagship wine with excessive oak or extraction – not here.  The nose throws up pure aromas of turned earth and hay, just hinting to the fruit lurking within.  In the mouth, the body is sloshy rather than thick, it oddly dances between intense concentration yet feels nimble.  It’s an array of black fruits – berries and plums, with a lick of coffee/mocha and further earthen flavours revealing through a finish of magnificent proportions. Purity of fruit remains paramount throughout, the full flight of concentration that only ancient vines can muster.  Barossa Shiraz in all its glory.

“Perfumed nose of dried violets, blackcurrants, peppercorns and cacao. Hazelnuts and sweet spices, too. Creamy and polished, with a full body and velvety tannins. Delicious chocolate and sweet spice on the lengthy finish.” 93 points, James Suckling

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