Rockford 2016 Basket Press Shiraz 750ml

Inky, violet color. Expressive aromas of ripe red and blue fruits, violet, incense and Indian spices, along with building minerality. Stains the palate with vibrant black raspberry, blueberry, bitter cherry and floral pastille flavors that slowly deepen and become sweeter with aeration. Shows superb power but comes off elegant, showing no rough edges on a strikingly long, gently tannic finish that leaves behind sappy blue fruit and spicecake notes.

Score: 96 points -- Josh Raynolds, Vinous, 2021

Rockford is a small boutique wine producer based in South Australia's Barossa Valley. Founder and winemaker, Robert O'Callaghan belongs to a genre of visionary winemakers that include Max Schubert, Peter Lehmann, Jeffrey Grosset, Brian Croser and David Hohnen. His protégés include Chris Ringland and Dave Powell. Rockford wines have had a profound influence on winemaking philosophy and wine style in the Barossa. Providing the inspiration for a whole generation of winemakers 'the Rockford school' embraces the inherent qualities of old vine Shiraz: the physicality of winemaking where muscle and personal touch transform process into an art-form; the traditional tools of trade (basket press, open fermenter) and the complementary nuances of American and French oak maturation. Best known for their Basket Press Shiraz, Rockford also produces a handful of top-quality wines from old vine fruit sourced from selected growers across the Barossa Valley.