Yalumba The Octavius Shiraz Museum Release 2016

96 POINTS

Sarah Ahmed - Decanter

This blend of Barossa Valley (67%) and Eden Valley fruit hails from five parcels averaging 80 years old, the oldest planted in 1854. Intensely concentrated in hue and muscular flavour. Spicy and mineral to the nose and palate, with glimpses of violets. Its iodine and liquorice-edged black cherry and blueberry flavour is succulent, but still in the grip of the sinewy, charry oak, making for an imposing, slightly austere finish. A powerhouse.

96 POINTS

Josh Raynolds - Vinous

Saturated ruby. Heady aromas of ripe dark berries, cherry liqueur, vanilla and incense, with smoky mineral and exotic spice accents building in the glass. Seamless in texture and deeply concentrated, offering palate-staining black and blue fruit, floral pastille and mocha flavors that turn sweeter with air. At once plush and lively, finishing extremely long and smoky, with repeating dark berry and floral notes and velvety tannins.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

There’s a stronger Barossa Valley expression in 2016 with ripe blackberry and dark-plum flavors delivering a very pure, focused fruit impression. Vibrant fruit purity here. The palate has gently grainy tannins and good weight. Fresh, succulent dark berries and an impressive, deep, driving finish. A blend of Barossa Valley 67% and Eden Valley 33 shiraz from very old vines.

95 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - Halliday Wine Companion

Toast, resin and coffee-ground characters flash through pure, rich plum and redcurrant. It's ripe, velvety smooth, complex by iodine notes and firm through the finish. Importantly, for all its might, it feels both fresh and well balanced.

95 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Winepilot

The Octavius is one of the most historic wines in the Yalumba collection, stretching back to 1988. It started out as a Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon but it was not long before the switch to Barossa shiraz. Oak influence has always been a big part of the style although that has been wound back over the years. In the 2016 vintage, a great one for the Barossa, the wine was made with a combination of Barossa and Eden Valley fruit with an average age of 80 years, although some vines go back to 1854. That is some serious pedigree and it shows in a wine that has both great power and high complexity, despite its young age. The colour is deep as you’d expect and followed by an array of dark and blue perfectly ripened fruits – everything is in its place as is the oak. The palate is then bright and seamless with a powerful fruit core wrapped up in a blanket of oak and tannins before a long and fleshy finish. The balance is the key here, and it is impeccable. Drink now or wait twenty years – either way you are in for a treat.

95 POINTS

2021 - Decanter World Wine Awards

Still evolving but already supremely rewarding, with its elegant florals and spices married to seamlessly integrated oak, generous plummy fruits and a precise finish. Powerful and intriguing. Award: Gold - DWWA 2021

93 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

“It’s become a more modern, refined style”, explains Kevin Glastonbury, winemaker, and it was 100% new American oak when he started. Oak-tavius, as it is/was known. “It’s now about individual parcels in the right oak, now, much more French and Hungarian particularly in the younger wines, though of course American oak plays a part in the maturation time”. Looking for some refinement, is the agenda. Average age of the vineyard is significant, with oldest 1854, youngest 42 years old or so. Scents of booze-soaked forest berries, dark chocolate, pot pourri, clove and faint coconut. Powerful and deep flavours, dark-chocolate-coconut flavours with palate-staining blackberry, fig and date flavours, cinnamon spice. Lush but long wine, intense and yet shows good energy. Slippery and full. Warmth and wood a thing here, but in its style the integration and charisma works in its favour. Intense. Powerful. Hold onto your hats. Done well.

93 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

The average age of the vines for this premium Shiraz is 1936, but some date back to 1854. From French and American staves coopered on site, "Octavius" offers an evocative and multifaceted nose with everything from currants, licorice and mocha to cedar, bay leaf and cloves. There's a lovely woodsy, wintery vibe, and a touch of bottle age, too that softens the ripe fruit but highlights the oak. The palate is powerful and lean at the moment, with elevated acidity and taut, slightly woody tannins. There's a nice tang to the fruit. It's hard to predict how this will age but the hope is it's got another decade left in it at least.