2022 Head Wines Wilton Hill Shiraz, Eden Valley

Deep and dense ruby red colour with an aromatic lift of mulberry, anise, cinnamon bark and hint of nori. It’s a delight on the palate, with power and intensity but not carrying an overbearing weight. Dark blue and purple fruits are bright and lively, dark woodsy spices bring character and complexity then a deeper, dried blood note builds more intrigue. Tannins are seamlessly integrated; it glides with class across the palate and carries incredibly long. Many more layers will unfurl with further time maturing. Drink to 2040.

96 points Stuart Knox for The Real Review, October 2025

Alex Head's flagship wine is sourced from a 1965-planted, old-vine Eden Valley shiraz vineyard at 480m altitude on top of the Barossa Ranges. There's considerable depth and pedigree here. Deeply coloured in the glass with aromas of blackberry, doris plum, black cherry and kirsch. Hints of baking spices, sage, bay leaf, crushed rock, pan juices, licorice and violets. Blackforest cake, distant cedar and earth. It's a decadent, deeply fruited wine with a powdered, granitic architecture, a fine mineral line and substantial length and depth of flavour. Very impressive indeed. Drink to 2045.

96 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, September 2025

The Wilton Hill vineyard in Eden Valley was planted at an altitude of 480 metres back in 1965. Alex uses partial whole bunch fermentation. This wine represents just 0.5% of his total production, so you can be pretty certain that his top fruit is destined for here and the result is a cracker, a wine worthy of the title of Barossa icon. From a top vintage, only 576 bottles were made. Under Diam. The colour is an inky dark maroon with a garnet rim. Still very young, we have notes of chocolate, tobacco leaves, smoked meats, sage, black fruits, coffee beans, beef stock, licorice and a touch of graphite. The oak integration is exemplary. Structure is immaculate with a silky texture and serious length, this is finely balanced with cushiony tannins. Love it. This wine should provide immense pleasure for the next fifteen plus years and continue to improve even further over that period. Drink to 2040.

96 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, June 2025

The single-vineyard 2022 Shiraz Wilton Hill, from almost 60-year-old vines, is punchy and tight with embryonic aromas of blackberry, camphor, bay leaf and dark chocolate with a strong dose of spice. This is quite a stunning wine; it's a seamless, cerebral, fresh, balanced and superb example of the modern Barossa style with a sustained yet fine finish supported by a firm core of tannins. Drink to 2037.

95 points Angus Hughson for Vinous, July 2024

Alex Head follows a negociant model of working with select growers rather than farming his own vineyards. This has allowed him to spend years understanding the characteristics of the varied sites of the Barossa while refining his winemaking style: some retention of stems, ferments using indigenous yeasts, minimal sulphur throughout the wine-making process, and bottling without fining or filtration.

The fruit for this wine comes from a single block within a property in Flaxman Valley that overlooks both Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. The vines stand in red clay-loam rich in ironstone and quartz over orange clay subsoils and are farmed organically.

2022 was a cool and long ripening season, and those that escaped, or managed their vineyard damages, after a severe early-season hailstorm harvested superb grapes. This wine underwent a two-week fermentation in a small open top fermenter. Initially foot-trodden, the ferment included 20% of whole bunches and was kept submerged with down boards before being basket pressed into one-year-old barriques for a 16-month maturation.

Youthful, lifted aromas of dark fruit, violets and warm spices like anise, cinnamon and licorice. Background notes of beef broth and earthy graphite contribute to the overall complexity on the nose. The spice and graphite aromas follow through to the full-bodied palate that is densely packed with bright and lively blue and dark fruit. The long-lasting, complex flavours are framed with sanguine touches and fine tannins.

Will sit well with iron-rich and deeply savory proteins that match the wine’s dense fruit and allow the high notes to sing. Try with pan-roasted venison loin or kangaroo fillet with a juniper and blackberry reduction, served with salt-baked beetroot and Dutch carrots tossed with balsamic, thyme and goat’s curd.

Give the wine ample time in the decanter, especially if opening a less than ten-year-old bottle. Likely to have a long life ahead of it, developing further richness in aromas and flavours alike. Cellar with confidence to 2037.