or some years now Dalwhinnie has been the sleeping beauty of Australian wine. No longer. The grapes here are grown on the most stunning of sites; it’s one of the few vineyards that every Australian wine lover should visit at least once. A recent change in ownership and winemaking has seen these Pyrenees wines roar back into elite contention. Welcome back, Dalwhinnie. CAMPBELL MATTINSON, Wine Companion
This is one of the best wines I’ve tried all year. MAX ALLEN, Australian Financial Review
Beautiful wine. So distinctive. It’ll age, but gee, I think I’d be enjoying this over the next five or so years. A bird in the hand kind of thing. GARY WALSH, Wine Front
The renaissance of Dalwhinnie continues apace. GARY WALSH, Wine Front
The wine is elegantly cacophonous and nuanced. I love what this is all about. ERIN LARKIN. Wine Advocate
Dalwhinnie are back! The legendary Pyrnenees estate, which was born in the seventies and held a cult-like status across the late nineties and 2000s, may have lost its way in recent times but its fortunes have changed significantly with the recent purchase by the Foggarty group, and perhaps more importantly the appointment of the one-and-only man-of-the-moment Julian Langworthy as Chief Winemaker. Julian is no stranger to the wines and reputation of Dalwhinnie, their Eagle Shiraz was one of the first cult wines he ever bought, back in the 1996 vintage. Spending time in their impressive vineyards seemed to reignite that connection and now Julian is clearly enamoured by this special place.
The 2020 vintage wines are the first that Julian has overseen from go-to-whoa and tasting these on the bench a couple of weeks back was a 'whoa' moment. The magic was back...and then some. I have a soft spot for this style of Shiraz that blends a dense and impactful fruit with cool-climate spice and aromatics. You can see Jules' hand in he way the wines are built. Like he does so well at Deep Woods and Nocturne the management of tannins here is impeccable, giving the wine a frame from which to hang all that wonderful old vine fruit, firm but never intruding of the purity and transparency of the wines. There's a finesse here too that gives the wines a distinct mid-weight feel despite the obvious power and intensity. It's such an impressive first showing from Langworthy. There was a certain rusticity to the wines in recent times which I wasn't a fan of but that is now gone and replaced with and incredibly polished set of wines and yet that Dalwhinnie character remains front and centre as it should.
We have three wines in today's offer. The Moonambel Shiraz is all estate fruit drawn from blacks across the property from the sinew and spice of the hillside blocks to richer fruited sites on the flatter land. The Pinnacle, as its name implies, comes from the highest and steepest site on the estate. It's destemmed and see only about 20% new oak and is incredible seductive, rich and powerful and yet never feels heavy or cumbersome. The final wine is the cult favourite 'Eagle' Shiraz. It comes entirely of the 1977 block directly in front of the winery. A little whole bunch was included this year’s offering also. It's an exceptional wine. Max Allen noted in his AFR write up that he thought it was "easily the best young Eagle I can remember tasting." I can see why. It's a wine of incredible complexity, stunning perfume and just wonderful energy and poise. If it's this good now, the future is looking even better for this wine.
We have only a few dozen of each of the single block wines and a little more Moonambel. Make no mistake these are outstanding offerings that tap into the incredible Dalwhinnie provenance delivered with the touch of one of the country's finest winemaking talents. Exciting times are ahead but the time to jump in is definitely now with these 2020 releases.