2022 Greenock Creek Casey’s Block Shiraz, Barossa Valley

A leitmotif of the Greenock Creek wines has always been their concentration and Western Barossa fruit heft, right down to their 'entry level' wines like the 2010-plantings of the Casey's Block. Full-bodied, plush and ripe with intense kirsch and macerated satsuma plum notes and hints of blueberry pie, frangipani, espresso, roast venison, dark chocolate and earth. Concentrated, earthy and floral all at once with tight, powdery tannins and a velvet-like exit. Drink to 2033.

92 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, February 2024

The 2022 Shiraz Casey's Block is for the Greenock Creek true believers with its decadent fig, blackberry, and chocolate-laced aromas with a big dollop of sweet oak. This is full throttle, and the alcohol suggests an earlier drinking style.

88 points Angus Hughson for Vinous, July 2024

The grapes for this wine were grown in the 2010-planted Casey’s Block in Greenock Greek’s Seppeltsfield vineyard to a selection of cuttings from other blocks of that as well as the Roennfeldt Road vineyard in Maranaga.

The soils in this block are heavy clay-loams, and the fruit is often left to ripen a bit longer than in the neighbouring parcels. Previously aged in all-American oak barrels, the current practice at the winery is to pair the fruit mostly with seasoned French oak, with a small 10% component of new American oak.

About this producer

Greenock Creek was established in 1984 by Michael and Annabelle Waugh with a vision of producing terroir led single vineyard expressions of Shiraz. Accumulating a series of old, dry-land, low-yielding Barossa vineyards, they succeeded on a scale few could have imagined.

The Waughs’ retired in 2018, with new owners hiring Alex Peel as the senior winemaker. He has bought a fresh precision to a house style that has always been defined by power, integrity and a fierce respect for site. This has been achieved by small but important adjustments in managing vineyard health and by promoting quality control at every step in the winery.