Hayes Family Wines Mataro 2024
G 95
We continue to see more and more single varietal wines made from mataro, not just out of the Barossa Valley, but it does seem to be the leading region. One look at this wine and you’d have to wonder why we don’t see an awful lot more. 1567 bottles made. The blend comes from two mataro blocks, planted in the 1940s, in the Stone Well sub-region of the western Barossa Valley. Dark maroon with a purple rim, this really is a cracking wine. Richly flavoured with notes of coffee beans, chocolate, cassis, blackberries and mocha. Generous, intense and hiding serious power underneath, this is plush and seductive, offering the silkiest of tannins and amazing length. A stunner. The team suggest cellaring it for up to five years, but personally, I think it could easily go three times that. Drink now–2040 Hayes Family Wines Reserve Grenache 2024 G 95 Medium-deep crimson. Musky plum, black cherry, strawberry aromas with chinotto notes. Well concentrated strawberry pastille, dark cherry fruits, fine slinky textures and underlying marzipan notes. Finishes slinky/ al dente and minerally. Drink now–2034 Hayes Family Wines Estate Shiraz 2023 G 95 From the famous Stone Well sub-region in the Barossa Valley, the vineyard here is certified organic. The final blend comes from a range of blocks and spent 20 months maturing in a mix of new and older French oak. The vines were originally planted back in the late 1940s. Opaque purple in colour, this is powerful and muscular, offering a range of aromas including chocolate, leather, mocha, axle grease and beef stock. Beautifully balanced, the texture is both sleek and supple and there is brilliant length here. Satiny tannins feature at the conclusion. The wine has good concentration and gives some savoury notes as well. If you have the patience, this will easily cellar to advantage for at least two decades. Love it. For me, I’d opt for it, even ahead of the various estate Block Shiraz, but would be very happy with any of them. Drink now–2045 HEAD Wines The Blonde Shiraz 2023 G 95 An opaque maroon. Mocha, chocolate, mulberries and plums. This is big, bold and plush, dense but dancing. The oak has been deftly handled and there is good intensity, richness and ripeness, which runs the full, very extensive length. Satiny tannins, good energy and fine acidity. To qualify for the Blonde, the grapes must be from overperforming vineyards and ‘have well-defined perfumes, textures and supple tannins’. The Eden Valley is a key contributor, and there is a dribble of Viognier included. Drink now–2040
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