2015 Filsell Old Vine Shiraz, Grant Burge

Velvet Thunder

This is classic old-vine Barossa Shiraz in full, generous voice: dark, plush, powerful and deeply comforting. From vines planted in 1920, it opens with blackberry, blueberry, black plum and cassis, followed by dark chocolate, mocha, vanilla, liquorice, coffee bean and a warm savoury note of tar and spice. It is rich, certainly, but there is polish beneath the power.

The palate is full-bodied and confident, with layers of ripe black fruit, cocoa, sweet oak spice and broad, mouth-coating tannins. Time has started to soften the wine’s edges, bringing the fruit, oak and savoury development into a more settled, luxurious place. It still has plenty of Barossa muscle, but the pleasure now is in the texture: velvety, warming, dark-fruited and long.

For when you want proper Barossa Shiraz with old-vine depth and dinner-table authority.
Pairs with ribeye steak, slow-cooked beef short rib, lamb shoulder, venison stew, smoky aubergine, barbecue brisket, or aged cheddar.
If this wine were… a sound, it would be a deep bass note in a candlelit room.

Grant Burge is one of the Barossa’s great modern names, built on generations of Burge family viticulture and a deep understanding of the region’s old vineyards. Filsell is one of the estate’s signature wines, sourced from the famous Filsell vineyard, planted in 1920 and long regarded as one of the Barossa Valley’s standout Shiraz sites. The vineyard also contributes fruit to Grant Burge’s flagship Meshach, which is why Filsell has become known as its younger brother. The 2015 vintage was matured for 21 months in a combination of French and American oak, giving this old-vine Shiraz its depth, richness and unmistakable Barossa grandeur.