2019 Koomilya Tempranillo Touriga, McLaren Vale

Released late to properly cohere, this is one of Steve Pannell’s many missives on the future of McLaren Vale. As is his prevailing wont, this sees older, large-format French oak and puncheons letting varieties and site speak. Brambly fruits, macerated black cherries and flashes of violet sit alongside leather, bitter chocolate, dried cranberry, sarsaparilla, dried fig and dark rye. Tannins with an appealing coffee grind ruggedness shepherd the palate, though they’re never gruff. Fruit intensity is seamlessly coiled into a wine more towards mid-weight, concluding with naturally energetic freshness. The future is assured! Drink 2023 to 2030.

95 points Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, Special Value, April 2024

The 2019 Koomilya Temp Touriga leads with pressed violets and fish oil, bent toffee, mulberry, pink peppercorns and dried Amaro herbs—I had a Braulio the other night, and this is bringing that back for me. In the mouth, the wine is tannic, and yet the tannins are so finely embossed into the fruit that they evolve over the course of the palate as the flavors do. This is chewy, firm, pliable and firmly weighted on the back of the palate. It is very good. Steve Pannell has a masterful handle on tannins—it is one of his superpowers. Drink 2024 to 2034.

94 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, September 2024

Such rich aromas of mulberries, red and dark plums and blueberries with violet-like fragrance and a gently savory, coal-dust edge. This has a deeply fleshy feel with a long,plush bed of tannin that carries such pure ripe dark-berry and plum flavors. The tannins are so richly intense and deeply set. Drink over the next five years.

93 points James Suckling, October 2021

Steve Pannell is widely regarded as one of Australia's most thoughtful and forward-looking winemakers. When he purchased the Koomilya vineyard in 2012, he saw it as the ideal site to explore varieties he believes are better suited to McLaren Vale's warm, dry climate than many of the region's traditional plantings. Tempranillo and Touriga Nacional — the great red varieties of Spain and Portugal respectively — thrive in conditions that mirror their Iberian homelands, and in Pannell's hands they produce something unmistakably McLaren Vale in character.

The wine was held back after vintage to allow the blend to properly cohere before release — a patient decision that pays off in the glass. Fermented and matured in older, large-format French oak puncheons, the approach keeps the winemaker's hand light and lets the vineyard and varieties do the talking.

The 2019 is medium-weight and finely constructed, opening with brambly dark fruit, macerated cherries and violet, layered with leather, bitter chocolate, dried cranberry and a savoury, spiced depth. The tannins are a particular feature — firm and structured but beautifully integrated, with a coffee-grind texture that gives the wine real personality without ever feeling harsh. The finish is long and energetic, with a natural freshness that belies the warmth of the vintage.

Pour alongside braised lamb shoulder, duck confit or a richly seasoned bean and pork stew. Drink now through 2030.