2022 Spinifex Moppa Shiraz, Barossa Valley

Dang! Look at that colour. Saturated magenta/crimson with fruit characters of blackberry, cherry liqueur and blueberry along with hints of dark spice, amaro, violets, dried meats, licorice, sandalwood, leather and vanilla. There is a real succulence to the fruit here, super pure and expressive, tending to savoury as those chalky tannins embrace the black fruits and driving on for some time on the finish. North-western Barossa sense of compression at its finest. Drink 2025 to 2045.

96 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, March 2025

Ink black core to a deep purple rim. Blood plum, ironstone and crushed violets on the nose. Dense, powerful and driven, dark fruits and black pepper spices all singing across the palate with fine gravelly tannins ensuring it doesn’t fall away. Great length, poised and detailed into the finish. Drink 2025 to 2039

95 points Stuart Knox for The Real Review, February 2025

Spinifex was founded in 2001 by Peter Schell and Magali Gely he a trained oenologist who has made wine across Burgundy, Provence, the Languedoc and beyond; she from a family with over ten generations of viticulture near Montpellier. Between them they brought a very particular conviction to the Barossa: that the vineyard is everything, and that the winemaker's role is to preserve what the land and the grower have already achieved rather than impose on it. Spinifex built its reputation through long-term relationships with exceptional growers and those relationships remain the heart of the range. The own vineyards came later: the Rostein in the Eden Valley from 2014, the historic Dominion near Vine Vale from 2018. The négociant model has never been a compromise at Spinifex any more than it is for many of the great names of Burgundy. What matters is the land, and the honesty with which you listen to it.

The Moppa subregion sits at elevated ground in the north-western reaches of the Barossa Valley a small triangle bounded by Greenock, Kalimna and Koonunga Hill, and long recognised by local growers as a consistently exceptional source of Shiraz. Pete Schell has been working with the same grower here since 2005, a quietly meticulous man whose pride in delivering fruit in perfect condition is the foundation this wine is built on. The vines are thought to be at least 90 years old and have been managed organically for decades.

Partial whole bunch fermentation with indigenous yeasts, pressed to a selection of thick-staved demi-muids and barriques. Unfined and unfiltered.

The 2022 is dark and brooding blackberry, cherry liqueur and blueberry on the nose with high-toned pepper, vermouth herbs, peat smoke, sandalwood and star anise building layers of exotic complexity. The palate is dense and powerfully driven yet maintains a real succulence, with chalky tannins that embrace the dark fruit rather than grip it, and a finish of impressive length and detail.

North-western Barossa at its finest, and a wine that rewards a proper occasion and a big glass. Aged duck confit with juniper and red wine; Korean galbi short ribs braised in soy and pear; or a venison rack with roasted beetroot and a reduction. The wine's dark fruit, spice and chalky structure will find a willing partner in anything rich enough to deserve it.

Drink now through 2045.