The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.
News
Very deep crimson with red hues. Attractive and alluring aromas of spiced Satsuma plums, blueberries and briary blackberries, with notes of black pepper, anise, fennel and cinnamon, supported by herbaceous nuances of crushed sage. Round and generous, with spicy and wild blue and black fruits, a focussed mid-palate of elegant structure and silky tannins that create beautiful texture and balance for an extraordinarily long finish.
Wine Description
The Story
This wine is named as a tribute to Johann Gottlieb Rosenzweig, one of the early Barossa Lutheran pioneers who settled at Parrot Hill in Eden Valley. Their toil, perseverance and conservatism in hardship has meant the many generations that followed have rejoiced in the riches of those efforts. Shiraz, growing on the fertile slopes in the Eden Valley region, is just one of those blessings.
The wine was produced from a small selection of low-yielding dry-grown shiraz vines from the Hill of Grace vineyard, named the Post Office block, that were a mere 23 years old at the time of picking and therefore considered too young for inclusion into Hill of Grace Shiraz. The quality of the grapes from this selection produced a wine that was too good to be declassified and warranted a separate bottling and limited release. The Post Office ruins are on the land that was previously Rosenzweig property, the Rosenzweig name translating from German to ‘rose twig’.
Wine Information
The La Niña pattern weakened during the lead-up to the 2012 vintage, resulting in below average winter and spring rainfall. Spring was mild and summer was surprisingly mild which provided for slow ripening and allowed for intense fruit flavours, high acidity and mature tannins. Rainfall leading up to vintage was above average, with the heaviest rainfall events in late January and late February, which tied in well with the natural physiology of the dry-grown vines; ie, keeping leaves active at veraison and ripening. Temperatures were mild during harvest through March, warming to an Indian summer in April, allowing for a long window of picking and amazing maturities with the red varieties. Shiraz was a standout variety showing great purity and spice, colour, intensity and strikingly mature tannins.
Vintage 2012
Lower-than-average yields in Australia, as across much of Europe. This was blamed on high winds, drought and low fruitfulness resulting from the poor 2011 vintage. Quality, however, was much better than in the exceptionally damp 2011, with South Australia avoiding some of the weather extremes experienced by other states. Strong varietal typicality is a commonly cited feature of the 2012 crop.
