Standish The Relic 2022

Description

“A 6th generation Barossan, Dan Standish established his eponymous winery in 1999 whilst still working as winemaker at Torbreck Vintners. His endeavour initially began around an ancient parcel of Shiraz owned and farmed by his father. Due to family upheaval this source is now gone but has been supplemented by various sites throughout the Barossa Region that he has identified as significant and unique.All batches of fruit are fermented and matured individually then follows a strict selection in the winery that can see as much as 80% of the original blend discarded and sold off in bulk. As with the finest producers in Europe only the finest material is sold under the Standish Wine Company label.

“Stylistically Dan’s wines are as profound as you would expect from Barossa Valley old vines but they have a satin texture and dreamy perfume that sets them far apart from his contemporaries. Here, dark fruits are encased in cocoa and earthy richness but with gentle spice, soil tone, asphalt and a stony minerality that gives the wines a beautiful dimension. These are special wines, among the very best being made in Australia today. When you see what Grange and Hill of Grace sell for these days, these are a bargain.”   Andrew Guard, Distributor

About the 2022 vintage by Dan Standish: “Blessed with a long cool ripening season each of these 2022 Shiraz’s are unabashedly Barossa but more intricately reveal a distinct sense of place in which the vines inhabit. An outstanding vintage to showcase the intimate temperaments within our special part of the world.” Dan Standish.

“The 2022 season in the Barossa was a lovely one. In Dan Standish’s words, it was a “perfect vintage: wet winter, wet spring, followed by a hot but not crazy-hot summer. It was almost the perfect ripening season. A rain event in mid-January, and then we didn’t get that two weeks of 40 plus degrees we normally get at the start of February. We just didn’t get it. It was long, slow, even ripening. The best wines in the world are the wines that harness a variety to express the earth in which it was grown, via the hands that made it, and in so doing, hurl the drinker headlong into a world of curiosity and wonder. Like music, wine has a way of doing that… Drinkers will likely express their preferences for each wine, and as I see it, the 2022 season has produced the strongest set of Standish cuvées to date.” – Erin Larkin from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

Curved and lavish freshness from the contours of Krondorf foothills.
98+ POINTS, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate “The 2022 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier contains 2% Viognier skins, and this addition presents in this vintage as a core of raspberry and pomegranate. It is pure fruited and powerfully aromatic, as this cuvee always is. Interestingly, I am tasting this wine from two different glasses: one opened two days ago, one opened this morning. They are quite different, telling us once again that oxygen really is a friend to this producer, especially if choosing to drink these wines young. While the bottle opened two days ago is complete, balanced and utterly refined, it speaks more of its florals and fruit than it does its savory register of spice and complexity. However, the wine opened today has nuances of bacon fat and exotic spice. It is tightly coiled and springy and nowhere near as giving as the former. So, choose your own path. This vintage is a prettier, finer but no less long or coiled version of itself, and it will prove to be one of the greats in the cellar. The tannins certainly are a highlight for me. Built for age but also, in the framework of this beautiful season, absolutely available to you right now. An effortless beauty, here. 14.9% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.”

98 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion “The Relic is absolutely singing this year. Shiraz from an east-facing vineyard in Krondorf, with the addition of 2% viognier in ’22. It sports an insanely concentrated hue in the glass, with pure fruit aromas of plum compote, blueberry and black berry fruits. Layer upon layer of spice along with violets, jasmine, pippy raspberry nuance, dried citrus rind, roasting meats and turned earth. For all the wine’s fruit density and intensity, it’s got cut and a vivid minerality of line, sliding across the palate with impressive energy and verve, its tannins compact, akin to compressed quartz and graphite, and the finish is long, pure and true. Pitch-perfect architecture this year, with Dan’s trademark balance and harmony writ large.”

95+ points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front “There is a considered 1% of viognier in this wine. It was wonderful to run through barrels with Dan Standish earlier this year, a matrix of information about the wines and how detailed the final wines are from the barrels considered.

Rich and robust red albeit with a thread of coursing minerality, frisky, floral perfume (and mouth perfume), varied red and black berry fruits, turned earth, game meat, woody spices, faint minty-alpine herb notes. So very much going. Slippery and slurpy, cinched with fine, grainy tannins, a faint sooty spice element to that but feels mostly skinsy and tight by virtue of pure, deep grapiness. A throaty, rich, somewhat warm red with impeccable credentials and great balance. Regal in its stance.”

RRP $170  Our Special Price $139.99 – EXTREMELY LIMITED