From a prolific sixth generation Barossa Valley grape growing family, Dan Standish knows a thing or two about vines and the vineyards of the region. Harvest stints in California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys, La Rioja and Yecla in Spain coupled with extensive travel and study of France’s Rhône Valley reinforce his intricate local knowledge with a diverse international bent. The Standish Wine Company vintage cellar and barrel store is intimately designed to fully embrace and nurture the individuality afforded by clone, soil and aspect. Tiny open top oak fermentation vats allow single parcels – even single rows – to be vinified separately, enhancing the intricate personality of each specific soil profile.

Raspberry conserve, toasty oak, red capsicum, spice, tobacco and chocolate. Deep and rich wine, quite toasty with roasted coffee bean flavour, blackberry and blueberry, quite some sandy grip to tannin, orange peel, dark and spicy on a finish of good, but drying, length. Date: Jun 2023; Alcohol: 14.9%; Closure: Cork; Drink: 2025-2037; Rated: 92+ Points; Gary Walsh; The Wine Front

Bold, meaty and very concentrated. An inward concentration to infinity with blackberry coulis, prune and fig, date and salted Brazil nuts, dark chocolate drinking powder, roasted capsicum and beetroot with lots of clove and bitter herbs. Very firm tannin profile, drying, powdery finish with a wall of chalky pucker. A kind of oafish nature to the wine, a sticky richness and palate-staining overtness. The finish a touch bitter with smoky tannin. Character, intensity, for sure. Not quite to the pace and finesse of past releases, but worthy for impact. Date: Jun 2023; Alcohol: 14.9%; Closure: Cork; Drink: 2025-2037; Rated: 93 Points; Mike Bennie; The Wine Front