2022 Schwarz Wine Co Nitschke Block Shiraz, Barossa Valley

Jason Schwarz's parents planted this shiraz in Bethany in 1968; 20% whole bunch this year and matured for 20 months in French oak (28% new). Thickly fruited with opulent blackberry, black cherry and cassis characters with hints of olive tapenade, graphite, tobacco, cedar, amaro herbs, dark chocolate bullets, turned earth and an array of dark spice. Full bodied and leaning towards broody, with an earthen coal dust/graphite edge, fine, powdery tannin and a thick-shouldered swell of black fruits that roll on for some time. Drink to 2045.

95 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, January 2026

This wine beautifully combines power and elegance. It offers aromas of blackberry, cake spice, cured meat, dark cocoa, and cedar. On the palate, it is wonderfully concentrated, providing excellent weight and a silky flow, all supported by layers of velvety tannins. The finish is impressively long and satisfying. At its best now to 2040.

95 points Sam Kim for Wine Orbit

A spice box of perfume from another time. Lavender, sandalwood and cardamom hits you first but you are drawn in further with the crimson aromas of mulberries, bilberry and christmas cherries. It’s concentrated out with airy florals that clean lift you up and out of your seat, the pure tahitian vanilla bean its intoxicating and befitting for the depth of ripe fruit. It cleverly continues on the enticing theme with a chew to the integrated tannins and an elegance to the natural acidity. Seamless in its promising aromas and delivery of flavour on the palate. Dried blackcurrant, sapote and dark tea on the finish. A celebration of old vines loving tended in the Eastern Barossa range. This calls for slow cooked meats, ox tail and inky gravy. Drink now or will cellar well for another 6-8 years further. Drink to 2033.

95 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, October 2025

Spicy and black-fruited aromas of blackberry compote, blood plums, dark chocolate, cherry compote and cured meat. The palate is full-bodied with a textural and velvety mouthfeel and fine-grained tannins. There's lovely depth, with brooding intensity that will evolve nicely with time. Drink or hold.

94 points James Suckling, April 2025

From a fine Barossa vintage, this is a single vineyard wine from the Nitschke Road block, planted in 1968 in the Bethany sub-region. An opaque maroon with a dark purple rim, the nose exhibits notes of coffee beans, chocolate, axle grease, cassis, tar, blackberries, mocha and cloves. Richly flavoured, the wine has good depth and intensity, concluding with fine tannins and a lingering finish. At the moment, a wine of medium length – to go to the next level, needs to develop a little more length, which will hopefully arrive in the coming years. Whatever happens, it should certainly provide pleasure over the next eight to ten years. Drink to 2035.

93 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, October 2025

More about this wine

This is a single vineyard wine, with fruit grown in the Schwarz family vineyard in Bethany, today managed by Jason Schwarz’s brother Mark. The hand-tended vines were planted in 1968, the year Mark and Jason’s parents married, and stand in loamy soils over moisture retaining clay subsoils.

The 2022 season in Barossa Valley was blessed with a long, temperate summer. While some vineyards sustained hail damage, the overall quality is high, and the wines elegant, structured and well-suited for cellaring.

The fruit for this wine was handpicked and fermented with indigenous yeasts in open-top ferments with a 20% inclusion of whole bunches. Texture was built through daily pump-overs and the occasional foot stomping. The wine matured for 20 months in French oak barrels, of which 28% were new.

About Scwartz Wine Co.

Jason Schwarz is a sixth generation Barossan who grew up surrounded by vines at his parents’ property in Bethany. His own label presents a portfolio of small batch wines that reflect both the vineyard and season they came from.

His winemaking style seeks vibrant and balanced styles through intuition rather than restraining himself with rules or science.