2014 Yangarra Ironheart Shiraz

97 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday's Wine Companion

The flagship shiraz with fruit off two blocks, 25% whole bunches, wild yeast, French oak 40% new, aged 15 months then a barrel selection. Quality control in check. It effortlessly reaches a depth of flavour and presence while retaining its verve. Smells of a spice shop next door to a baker, with the dark fruit in line with sprightly acidity and shapely if firm tannins. Stunning now, even brighter future.

96 POINTS

Jeremy Oliver

Artfully made shiraz whose opulent, fiery bouquet of lustrous red fruit, cinnamon and five spice overlies tight-grained cedary oak and a mineral note. It’s sumptuously and profoundly layered, seamlessly marrying vibrant dark fruit with earthy, faintly leathery nuances and a firm, gravelly spine, extending long and persistent. A cellaring wine of complexity and character.

96 POINTS

Huon Hooke

Very deep, dark, saturated red/purple colour; the bouquet is savoury, walnutty and dried-bayleaf scented. The wine is very full-bodied, super-ripe and almost opulent in its proportions. It has density and generous extract, licorice hints and spicy nuances. The finish rolls on and on. A big, bold, solid wine, which will live for decades. Outstanding and loaded with character. (25% whole bunches; 40% new oak; 482 dozen made. Grown on ironstone and sand)

96 POINTS

Huon Hooke - The Real Review

Very deep, dark, saturated red/purple colour; the bouquet is savoury, walnutty and dried-bayleaf scented. The wine is very full-bodied, super-ripe and almost opulent in its proportions. It has density and generous extract, licorice hints and spicy nuances. The finish rolls on and on. A big, bold, solid wine, which will live for decades. Outstanding and loaded with character. (25% whole bunches; 40% new oak; 482 dozen made. Grown on ironstone and sand)

96 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

I wasn’t any kind of fan of the 2013 release, but I am of this 2014. It’s biodynamically grown, it sees 25% whole bunches, it’s cold soaked and then fermented wild in open vats before seeing all French oak, 40% new. It’s not only a vineyard selection but a barrel selection; the best barrels of the most distinctive vineyard, kind of thing. 5784 bottles made. If you’re going to make a powerful statement then give it the scaffolding to endure. This is a McLaren Vale shiraz to reckon with. It’s inky with blackberried fruit flavour, it’s infused with saltbush, it’s sheeted with cedary oak and for all its luxury polish it roars Get Out Of My Way, I’m On The Way To The Future. This is a ship with long anchors of tannin. Go on a fitness kick, eat healthy, do your best to be around in 20 years. This is a shiraz for the ages.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

Sexy red with meat, earth, blackberry and quartz aromas that follow through to a full body, round and velvety tannins and a juicy finish. Loads going on here. Love it. Drink now. Screw cap.

93 POINTS

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW - Wine Advocate

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Ironheart Shiraz offers up notions of crushed black cherries, mulberries and plums with hints of chocolate box, licorice, tilled soil, cardamom and Provence herbs plus a hint of black olives. The medium-bodied palate is both harmonious and vivacious, packed with youthful blackberry and exotic spice flavors and a good backbone of ripe, rounded tannins. It finishes long with a pepper and herbal lift.

91 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Dark and concentrated, with plenty of spicy notes up front, accented by a dash of leather. There's plenty to admire here, with thick, sandalwood-infused plum compote and black currant flavors, velvety tannins and touches of black walnut and dark chocolate on the finish. Drink now through 2030. 482 cases made, 300 cases imported.