So, here is the big brother John Duval Eligo Shiraz from a cracking vintage. The wine beckons like a Christmas pudding, glinting in the glass with lighthouse intensity. Rich tapestry of flavours rock your world immediately and it takes some thought to break down the violets, cassis , spice and other potent notes that blast through the senses on the first sip. The satisfaction then becomes complete as a wall of flavour invades the mouth to bounce happily form tonsil to tongue and around again displaying wonderful dark forestry blackberry fruits and layers of cassis and dark cherry with balanced pepper and spice and tannins that even at this early stage determine this will be a wine for the cellar if you can keep you cotton picking hands off of it!
Overall , an expensive bottle of wine! Worth it? - EVERY Penny! I see people buy global wine brands for $800 a bottle and this would drop them in there shelf tracks for quality, value and awesomeness!!!!
Accolades and Awards
2012 Vintage:
97+ Points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate “Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2012 Eligo has a profoundly scented nose of crème de cassis, blackberry pie, licorice, dark chocolate and blueberry preserves against an earthy/meaty background of bacon fat, forest floor, beef dripping and black loam. The densely packed, full-bodied palate manages almost paradoxical elegance and restraint with velvety tannins and lively acid giving closure to the long, multilayered finish.”
96 Points - Campbell Mattinson, Australian Wine Companion "It's deceptive how firm and well scaffolded this wine is. It's a flood of rich, ripe, dark-hearted fruit, all blackberry and anise, peppercorn and coffee, and it feels so fluid that at first you barely notice the tannin at all. It's only on closer investigation (all in the line of duty) that you start to notice the strings. It can be consumed now or much later; it will take either option in its stride."
95 Points, Huon Hooke, Huonhooke.com “Deep red colour with a tinge of purple; there are very ripe blackberry aromas with traces of anise and spices and dried herbs. It’s deep and fleshy but elegant on palate, lightly grippy, with pleasing softness in the middle. The aftertaste is balanced and clean with a positive tannin grip. It’s just a baby at this stage: already drinking beautifully, but with decades ahead of it. Superb Shiraz"
94 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front "I wonder how many big, big company winemakers would finish up their high profile roles to then follow up with a project that feels as personal as John Duval’s. Unswervingly seeking ‘elegant’ expressions of the Barossa Valley and without aping the previous generation of work at Penfold’s. Shiraz from Barossa and Eden vineyards spends 20 months in new and older oak (75% new). There’s no doubt there is some richness here; perfume of dried fruits, spice, tobacco, cedar, maple syrup, but the palate is much more trim than expected. It’s still a powerful, molten, flowing wine of deep concentration and layered fruit flavour, but there’s a lift and liveliness too. It’s slick and slippery, nectar-like, long in flavour, finishing lightly salty. A wine that flows beautifully, with all the hallmarks of the warm, even season from which it comes. Fine feeling, ample feeling wine. Collectors and followers of Duval should seek this out."
From the Winery
Shiraz 100%. Eligo represents the best of my 2012 vintage and is sourced from some excellent Shiraz vineyards in the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley regions. Fermentation with submerged cap in small stainless steel fermenters. Some batches had up to 2 weeks on skins. Oak Maturation - 100% barrel matured for 20 months with 75% new fine grain French oak hogsheads (300 litre) and the balance 2 and 3 year old hogsheads.
Don't Pay: $120.00
WBW Rating: 97/100
Closure: Cork
Region: Barossa Valley, SA
Winemaker: John Duval
Drink now until: 2035
Alc/Vol: 14.5 %
