The Stocks Shiraz is Woodstock’s single-field flagship made from nearly 120-year-old vines from lean, sandy soil.
Veteran vines like these obviously produce very small amounts of high-potency grapes that, in the right hands, produce wine in the reference class.
The wines are made with the help of renowned Ben Glaetzer, who since 1999 has been in charge of the vinification of Woodstock’s table wines, while Scott Collet is responsible for the liqueur wines. No pesticides are used and all pruning is done by hand, which is expensive, but in return can be tasted in the finished wines.
The Stocks Shiraz is a dark, opulent wine with high concentration and finely ground, cask-derived tannins from 18 months on oak of various origins. Dark blackberry blends with licorice, mint, cigar box and freshly roasted coffee into a complex, perfectly rounded fist of a wine.
The wine can – well-oxygenated – now be enjoyed together with the strong meat dishes, but The Stocks will also be able to be stored far away in the cellar: 15 years is no age for a wine at this level.
97 points James Halliday Wine Companion
“This single (estate) vineyard was planted in 1900, and for good measure, this fullbodied wine represents the best barrels of the vintage. Dense, deep crimson-purple; there is substantial oak showing now, but it’s good quality, and I do not have the slightest doubt that when the wine approaches maturity in ’24, all the juicy black fruits, licorice and chocolate will simply acknowledge that oak is part of a complex wine of the utmost quality. ”
