2024 Standish Wine Co The Lamella Shiraz

Dan Standish has always done things his own way, but what he pulls off with Lamella from the ancient Stonegarden Vineyard in Eden Valley is always special. The high-altitude site gives this a completely different framework to his valley-floor gear - there’s a distinct levity and cooler poise here. He goes all-in with 100% whole-bunch fermentation, using the stalks to build a gravelly, highly structural wine that you feel just as much as you taste. The compressed 2024 season has turned out an incredibly compact, tense, ink-stained core. The perfume hits you immediately, shifting between dark florals, game meat, black pepper and a heavy lick of liquid graphite. It is remarkably long and succulent on the finish, lashing flavours of mulberry, rich cherry and bramble against a serious wall of ferrous, mouth-coating tannins. There's a subtle Italianate herbal edge alongside licorice and fennel that really takes this out of standard Barossa territory. It's a stellar release of cool-climate Shiraz that shows exactly why this is one of the most sought-after Shiraz in the country. 98 points "This is a wine that you feel as much as you taste and smell. The tannins linger on the palate and help the flavors remain firmly wedged in the memory. I can still taste from one sip to the next; the bridge between mouthfuls doesn't need to be bridged by memory—it is viscerally there." - Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)