98+ Points - Erin Larkin
Dan Standish is one of the most outstanding Barossa producers in the game today. A sixth-generation Barossan, Dan established the Standish Wine Co. in 1999. After many years refining his craft at Torbreck, he focuses on showcasing some of the Barossa's finest and most ancient sites under his label. Today his wines are some of the most sought-after of any in Australia, attracting a huge following with their seductive and devastatingly powerful styles of Barossa Shiraz.
The 2022 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier is made with fruit from the Hongell family vineyard, Krondorf. It was made with 2% Viognier co-fermented, with 25% whole bunches in the ferment this year, up from 15% to 20% in 2020.
"98+ Points. 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”- Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate.
“95+ Points. 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. Tasted: MAY24 14.9% alc. Cork Drink: 2024 - 2038”- Mike Bennie, The Wine Front.
