The Standish Wine Company The Relic 2023

Dan Standish is a sixth-generation Barossan who first learned to prune vines from his grandfather at the age of six. He went on to make wine at Torbreck, where he crafted Run Rig, the estate's old-vine Shiraz Viognier, and his time in the Northern Rhône shaped the way he works. He founded The Standish Wine Company in 1999 from a small parcel of his family's old vines, and today it makes only four wines, all single-vineyard. The Relic comes from a single east-facing vineyard in Krondorf, on vines around a century old. The Shiraz is co-fermented with a small amount of Viognier, between 1% and 2% depending on the year, with some whole bunches in the ferment, a style that nods to Côte-Rôtie. Standish calls his approach the "New Barossa", which means freshness and purity with the power left intact.

The wine is a powerhouse made with real poise. Recent vintages show red apple, cherry blossom, cranberry, pomegranate and apricot flowers, with a silky palate, ferrous tannins and a long finish. Gary Walsh of The Wine Front once called it "Côte-Rôtie on steroids", and described the Shiraz as muscly and taut beneath the slip of Viognier.