2024 Dandelion Vineyards Lionheart Shiraz, Barossa Valley

Elena Brooks founded Dandelion Vineyards with a clear intent: to make wines that speak plainly of the places they come from. Born in Bulgaria and trained in oenology in Australia, she has worked vintages across Europe and South Australia before settling in McLaren Vale. Her winemaking philosophy is built around restraint — spending time in the vineyard, then stepping back in the winery.

The Lionheart is named after Carl Lindner, one of Barossa's champions of old vine preservation. At the heart of this wine are ancient, gnarled Shiraz vines, many over a century old and surviving on their own roots at 440 metres in some of the oldest soils on earth. That altitude is part of what makes this wine tick; it gives the fruit a freshness and lift you wouldn’t always expect from the Barossa.

Hand-harvested bunches are gently crushed into open fermenters for eight days of natural fermentation, hand-plunged twice daily before basket pressing to predominantly older French and American oak barriques for 18 months of maturation. No fining, no filtering.

Dark and deeply coloured, with aniseed, ripe plum, bay leaf and a faint minty, herbal lift on the nose — and just a whisper of coffee and cedar from the oak. The palate is plush and textural: powdery, finely-grained tannins, a clean line of acidity keeping the fruit pert, and a savouriness running under the ripe blackberry and plum that keeps it from tipping into the heavy end of the Barossa spectrum.

The wine's freshness and savouriness make it more versatile than most Barossa Shiraz — it handles spice and fat in equal measure: slow-roasted duck with steamed bao, a Provençal lamb daube with olives and orange peel or some wood-fired pork ribs with a Korean gochujang glaze.

Drink now through 2035.