2022 Barr Eden Love Over Gold Hommage

96 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2022 Hommage Love Over Gold is a blend of Mourvedre, Grenache and Shiraz. This is all raspberry pip and rosehip tea, cracked quartz and dried herbs. The tannins feel greyscale and graphite, with concrete and even ozone. I find so much pleasure and beauty in this wine. Though not sweet, it possesses a core of sweet fruit, for the wine is wrapped in a skein of savory tannins that pull the length out through the finish. Lovely. Exciting. 14% alcohol, sealed under Diam and wax.

95 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

Love Over Gold changes its tune in 2022, going for a Southern Rhône blend of 43% Grenache, 43% Mourvèdre and 14% Shiraz. The 2022 Hommage is young, vibrant and embryonic, with a powerful blend of dark cherry, a strong meaty/animal skin theme and a spice and new oak dusting. Balance is critical here as it is far from flashy, but it holds a strong core of underlying fruit and pliable tannins well over a cerebral rather than blockbuster finale.

94 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Made of 42% Mouvèdre, 42% Grenache and 16% Shiraz in 2022 all handpicked on April 8th. Mengler’s Hill sits on the border of the Barossa and Eden Valley (hence the name) and sits as high as 525m above sea level. 150 dozen produced. This is dark, meaty and spicy, and the Mataro really rides high in the wine. It has perfume of dried roses, black tea, dark tobacco, a little orange peel and baking spices. It’s just above medium-bodied, thick and rich in smooth silty tannin, dark bitter chocolate, some red fruits in the mix, and a fair bit of spice, balanced acidity, with a saline finish of excellent length. If you love the savoury expression of Mataro, then this will be a pleasing wine.

94 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

An hommage to the great Bob McLean; a blend of 42/42/16% grenache/mourvèdre/shiraz. I miss Bob. Our last conversation before he passed away was conducted while leaning on our utes while filling them with diesel, discussing whether it was wise to buy butter chicken from a service station bain-marie. But I digress. This is a ripper of a wine. Spicy and packed full of graceful, pure plum and dark cherry fruits cut with hints of roasting meats, dried citrus rind, dried wildflowers, orange blossom, ginger cake, rosehip and earth. Powdered granite tannins and snappy, sour acidity with plenty of sustain on the finish.