2023 Head The Brunette Shiraz

96 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

For grapes to make the cut for this wine, they must come from vineyards which outperform every year and which “represent the ‘dark-side’ of Shiraz in the Barossa”. The main component comes from the Flaxman Valley which is, somewhat paradoxically for a valley, one of the higher sites in the region, planted in 1965. The colour is garnet/magenta, fading to red on the rim. The nose offers notes of leather, cassis, dark cherries, blackcurrants, ripe raspberries and a hint of bacon fat. There are delicatessen meats and herbs, with a touch of warm earth. A seamless wine which lifts on the palate, it offers laser-like focus, silky tannins and great length. Intensity throughout, but a wine which has muscle and yet exhibits such immaculate balance. Fifteen to twenty years aging potential here. A stunning Barossa Shiraz.

95 POINTS

David Sly - Decanter

With a sturdy black-fruited core, this is a more formidable monument than its Head Wines stablemates. Sourced from the Fechner vineyard, planted in 1908 at Moculta in the northern Barossa, its vines on deep red clay mixed with ironstone and quartz produce intense berries that provide a dark purple wine with particularly broad shoulders, yet a slim waist. Its savoury fruits are piqued with dried herbs, while the presence of fine, structured tannins and maturation over 15 months in 33% new French oak supports the presentation of such powerful, concentrated fruit.

95 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

Shiraz sourced from the Fechner 1908 plantings in Moculta at 320m in the Eden Valley; 10% whole bunch, 15 months' maturation in French oak, 33% new. Ripe, juicy plum and dark cherry fruit tones with hints of brown spice, mountain herbs, polished leather, dried meats, dark chocolate and earth, with some lovely purple floral top notes. The wood spice from the maturation sinks back into that plush fruit nicely, with soft, pumice-stone tannins and a bright mineral line as it slowly retreats. Lovely drinking.

93 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The 2023 Shiraz The Brunette is plump and approachable with layers of mulberry, blackberry and fruit pastille with an earthy core and nice touches of red fruits. Generous levels of flavor are underscored by firm-edged tannins, brightness and energy through the long, fine finish. This is nicely pitched and should age well.

90 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Not an easy year for Barossa Shiraz, and in some ways, atypical wines. Very spicy, orange peel, mustard seed, damp leaf litter, fresh blackberry, smoky bacon and charcuterie. It’s medium to full-bodied, distinctly tangy and kind of sappy, a grainy feel to tannin, mulchy and spicy things, quite edgy and sour in acidity, some liquorice, with a zesty finish of solid length. Blueberry and charred sausages, obtuse angles here in its shape, but does have some raspberry sweetness and thick-cut marmalade sweetness to close. Not your typical Barossa wine, but interesting all the same. Should age pretty well.