2022 Yalumba The Steeple Shiraz

95 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

Shiraz sourced from a single-vineyard in Light Pass, planted in 1919. Rich plum, blackberry and black cherry fruits with hints of five-spice, cedar, licorice, dark chocolate, dried herbs and roasting meats. There's a beautiful swell of pure black and dark fruits, with tight, powdery tannins and an elegant form to the travel across the tongue. Finishes long with a core of cassis and spice.

94 POINTS

DWWA 2026 - Decanter World Wine Awards

Lovely fruit exuberance here with baked red fruit, sweet spice and bay leaf with skilfully integrated tannins. Award: Silver - DWWA 2026

93 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

From a single vineyard, just 1.3 hectares in size, located in the Light Pass sub-region of the Barossa, and from the superb 2022 vintage, the team have adopted biodynamic principles for this wine. The vines were originally planted back in 1919. Maturation was for sixteen months in Tonnellerie Sylvain ‘Artistic Series’ barriques, with 15% of them new barriques made from a single 365-year-old oak tree. Maroon with a garnet rim, the nose exhibits notes of dry herbs, bacon fat, animal skins, garden herbs, black fruits and aniseed. There is good complexity here with focus, drive and length. A sleek texture, good balance and satiny tannins round out an excellent Barossa Shiraz with good persistence. The palate sees a move to notes of charcuterie. This should drink beautifully for the next ten to twelve years.

93 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

Of all the wine types that it’s hardest to guess the price – before it’s been revealed – in Australian wine terms at least, I would say that it’s full-bodied shiraz. This is a soft, satiny wine with plum, bitumen, clove, cedar and burnt toast characters flooding the palate. There’s a saltiness to the fruit here as well. It’s relatively straightforward but the polish, weight of fruit, balance and finish are all up there in quality. The creaminess of the texture here – not overplayed – doesn’t hurt either.

92 POINTS

Tom Kline - Winepilot

A lot of oak at the fore initially — unsurprising given its 16 months in French barriques, 24% new. Cedar, bacon fat and ground nutmeg take centre stage and remain there while blackberry and black cherry fruit tries to push through, along with violets and black liquorice. Vanilla paste also plays a role. The palate shows better balance overall — blackberry, black cherry, cedar, black olive, liquorice and dried violet again, with subtle black pepper in the background. The grape tannins are firm-but-fine, putting up a nice frame, while the oak tannins add some chew. The oak does sit forward at this stage, and some patience will be required to allow the fruit from those precious centenarian vines to shine more fully.