2022 Reserve Shiraz

colour

Bright red with a crimson purple rim.

aroma

The nose is lifted and complex. Warm spices, tar, black tea and dark plums aromas mingle. This is a wine which evolves and develops in the glass providing complex, new aromas. 

palate

The palate is a riot of dark fruit and spice. Bouncy, pliable, yet savoury tannins travel long and concisely down the palate. The finish brings with it intense marzipan, warming spice and maraschino cherry.

The 2022 vintage might be my favourite Reserve Shiraz to date. For me, it’s everything that is good about Margaret River and Shiraz combined into the bottle!

cellaring

Optimum drinking within three to ten years of vintage.

vintage

2022 was a truly exceptional vintage in Margaret River. The season started beautifully with a wet spring and late flowering, followed by a warm and dry season, producing refined flavour, great elegance and real personality. 

winemaking

This wine is almost entirely from our old vine central Wilyabrup vineyard planted in 1972. The Shiraz was 100% hand-picked and transferred to small open top fermenters with 30% whole bunch fruit.

A minimalist approach in the winery included twice daily plunging with pressing occurring after 12 days on skins to a mixture of new and seasoned French oak, majority puncheons. The wine was aged on lees for 10 months before bottling and bottle ageing.

The aim was to capture all of the complexity that this great wine entails whilst retaining huge exuberance of fruit and the general deliciousness of the Deep Woods Estate Reserve Shiraz.

region

Margaret River

variety

Shiraz

analysis

• Alcohol: 14.5%
• TA: 5.60 g/L
• pH: 3.72

Rare venison with mushroom ravioli and celeriac puree.

Ray Jordan Wine Guide 2024

This comes from a single block in Wilyabrup planted back in '72, so it's one of the oldest in the region. Excellent season has produced fruit of fine balance and poise. It's been captured in this super wine. The nose is fragrant with a spicy, licorice and plummy, blackberry thing happening. The palate has a grainy texture which is simply compelling. The flavour profile extends effortlessly to a very long finish I love this wine. One of the best.

Best WA Shiraz

98

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate 2023

The fruit for this wine is from the Septumus vineyard (old-vine Shiraz that was previously owned by Sandalford). 2020 was the first time that Deep Woods used this fruit resource for this wine. Larger format oak and 35% whole bunches in the ferment has wrought a wine of supple complexity and spice. The 2022 Reserve Shiraz is supple and exciting, highly aromatic and complex. In the mouth, there is salted red licorice, raspberry, red snakes, star anise and a hint of Campari/orange peel character. It matured for nine months in oak puncheons (500 liter). Bright! Exciting! The future for Margaret River Shiraz is bright, yet undetermined; the winemaking styles and site/clonal exploration is ongoing, with no fixed stylistic template as yet. Viticulture and vintage conditions also play a major role in the success of this variety in the region. We as drinkers, we wait!

James Suckling, November 2023

Attractive aromas of ripe dark berries with dried flowers, pomegranate peel, potpourri and sweet spices. It strikes you with its fresh, steely and mineral character on the palate offering hints of crushed stones and white pepper over the very fine and compact tannins. Structured and layered with delicious fruit and a long, spicy finish. 

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front 2023

From a vineyard in Wilyabrup, planted in 1972. Some whole bunch. Plum, ripe raspberry, plenty of baking spice (nutmeg in particular), almond meal and orange peel. It’s medium-bodied, warm and spicy, and kind of festive with its plum duff and sweet spice, a charcoal briquette thing happening, with ripe sooty tannin, a cinch of amaro bitterness, and a dry finish of excellent length. Excellent.

94