2017 Entity Halliday’s Shiraz of the Year

At last night’s Halliday Wine Companion Awards held at the National Gallery in Melbourne, our 2017 ‘Entity’ Shiraz received the award for ‘Shiraz of the Year’. The 99 point rating placed the wine in elite company, and being named Best Shiraz propelled it to the pinnacle of wines made from Australia’s signature grape variety Shiraz. The award marks another highpoint for our family business, and positions John Duval Wines amongst the great names in Australian wine. It’s an achievement we are exceptionally proud of, especially so considering Entity was just one of over several thousand of Australia’s best wines featured in the 2020 James Halliday Wine Companion guide.

Since the 99 point rating made news earlier this year, demand for the wine has been overwhelming and we and our many retail partners have sold out. (However, there’s no denying a determined search may yield a few rare bottles here and there.) As news of this new award spreads, we no doubt will once again be inundated with requests to purchase 2017 Entity Shiraz, stocks of which are now limited to our museum reserves.

Entity is always a limited production wine, and unfortunately the amount we typically hold in reserve will be in no way sufficient to meet every request. We have therefore decided the most equitable way of allocating some of this wine destined for our museum is through a new feature of our JD Wine Club.

VINTAGE NOTEBOOK

2012 – Structured, Elegant

The more I taste the current release Plexus and Entity, I am convinced 2012 will be regarded as one of the classic Barossa vintages. Good soil moisture, a carryover from the wet 2011, and a mild summer during the 2012 growing season put a stamp of elegance on the 2012 wines. But don’t drink them all now: their balance, flavour depth and tannin quality will give excellent cellaring potential. In fact you won’t be surprised that I think the 2012 Eligo will give the 2010 a run for its money…and that is high praise indeed given that the 2010 received 98 Parker points. 2012 Eligo is due for release February March 2015.

2013 – Traditional, Concentrated

Concentration and character, was how I summarised the 2013 vintage after picking a year ago. The season was dry and warm to hot, resulting in low yields so there was never going to be a problem with lack of colour or tannin structure. But the young wines really needed time in barrel and several rackings to soften the tannins and fill out the palate. Now that I have just blended the 2013 Plexus and Entity I’m pleased with the way they have come together. 2013 will be a more traditional Barossa vintage; rich, full bodied and structured, these will reward cellaring until at least 2025.

2014 – Soft, Stylish

If the heat of early January 2014 had continued through February, the 2014 vintage might well have been a write off. Instead we had 100mm of rain which breathed life back into the vines. At the time I remember saying ‘when will it stop’: after all rain is the last thing one needs at vintage. But it signalled the end to the heat and prolonged the ripening of Barossa and Eden Valley vineyards. As a result the reds are soft, elegant and stylistically right on track. We got out of jail!

Welcome to John Duval Wines. After 29 years as a winemaker with Penfolds, one of Australia's most famous wineries, I started my own wine label in 2003. I have had a fortunate career, graduating in agriculture and winemaking in 1973 at Adelaide University and then following in the footsteps of some of the greats of Australian winemaking such as Max Schubert, the creator of Penfolds Grange and Don Ditter, another famous Penfolds winemaker who mentored me in the 1970s and early '80s.

I guess there was a family precedent to all of this - the Duval family had for many years run a world famous sheep stud and quality vineyards south of Adelaide, coincidentally supplying Shiraz grapes and vine cuttings to Penfolds. So I wasn't exactly a newcomer to wine.

I was appointed Chief Winemaker at Penfolds in 1986 and was lucky enough to oversee one of the most dynamic periods of change in the Australian wine industry. With the support of my team in the Barossa I secured a number of awards for the company - Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London in 1989; Red Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine Challenge in London in 1991 and again in 2000; and seeing the 1990 Penfolds Grange named the Wine of the Year by the prestigious US magazine Wine Spectator in 1995.

Since leaving Penfolds I have consulted to a number of international wine companies in Europe, South America and Australia.  I am a vintner partner in the Long Shadows venture in Washington State, US with our first 2003 Sequel Shiraz released in late 2005 and I have a project with Vina Ventisquero in the Apalta Valley, Chile, producing several wines including our Syrah 'Pangea' and 'Vertice' our Syrah / Carmenere blend. 

As you can imagine I don't get enough time to spend at my home in the Barossa but I insist on securing at least four uninterrupted months around vintage to make my own wines. I love working with the fruit that comes from the old vines of the region, so I started with 'Plexus', a Rhone style blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre and in 2006 released my first Shiraz, 'Entity'. I have also released small quantities of a reserve Shiraz, Eligo, further highlighting the premium quality fruit from the Barossa.

John Duval Wines will never be another Penfolds - it is simply my chance to express my 40 odd years of premium winemaking knowledge using some of the best fruit in the world.

Our aim is express the wide spectrum of red fruit flavours from Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre and also provide structure with a seamless balance and long finish. 

Traditional, low intervention winemaking techniques are employed, allowing the wine to be approachable in its youth, but also have medium term cellaring potential for 8-10 years.

Region:  Barossa Valley

Variety: Shiraz 51%, Grenache 30%, Mourvedre 19%. The Shiraz was sourced from old vineyards in the Tanunda,  Light Pass and Ebenezer districts.  Grenache from the Tanunda and  Ebenezer region and Mourvèdre from the and Light Pass region.

Winemaking: Fermentation with submerged cap and small open stainless  steel fermenters.

Oak Maturation:  100% barrel maturated for 15 months, with just 10% new fine  grain French oak hogsheads (300 litre barrels); with the balance 3-6  year old barrels.  Some Shiraz finished fermentation in new French  oak.