Best's Great Western Bin 0 Shiraz 2017

Best's Wines is one of Australia's oldest family-owned wineries, with a history dating back more than 150 years. They produce three shiraz, the flagship Best's Thomson Family Shiraz, the iconic Best's Bin 0 Shiraz and the cornerstone Best's Bin 1 Shiraz. Best's Bin 0 Shiraz is sourced from four low-yielding Concongella Shiraz blocks established in 1966, 1970, 1992 and 1994.

"The deepest colour and largest build of the Best's Shirazs, here black and blue fruits have fine, but not apologetic, tannins running alongside the fruits - which don't give it (the tannins) even a passing glance."  James Halliday

Expert reviews

"Sweaty, meaty, reductive aromas at first; youthful and bold, fresh and undeveloped. The wine is intense and firm, with a little (pleasant) bitterness in the tannins, bright and bold, youthful and quite solid, in need of some cellar-time. It has very good depth and intensity of flavour. There's a sweet-fruit middle and considerable elegance. It showed more fruit and complexity with airing, including some pepper and a slight balsamic-herb bunchy note. Potential plus. A superb wine in the making. Footnote: a day later, exposure to air had brought more out of the wine. Wonderfully deep and complex. Drink: 2021-2037."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 97 points

"From vines planted 1868, 1966, '70 and '92, hand-picked, sorted, fermented with 25% whole bunches, the remainder whole berry, matured for 17 months in French barriques and hogsheads (20% new). The deepest colour and largest build of the Best's Shirazs, here black and blue fruits have fine, but not apologetic, tannins running alongside the fruits - which don't give it (the tannins) even a passing glance. Drink by: 2037."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points

"Spicy, peppery, a bit reductive and meaty, red and blue fruits, aniseed and perfume. Medium-bodied, pretty firm in acidity, spicy and charred, wheatgerm and dried herb, grainy tannin, and a raspberry acidity finish of sure length. Tight now, and needs a bit of time to resolve. Drink: 2022-2040."  Gary Walsh, The Wine Front – 94+ points

The history of bin 0 

"The evolution of Bin No 0 began more than 150 years ago when Henry Best planted vines at the Concongella Vineyard in 1868. We believe that Henry adopted from the start the style of labelling of the day. We started to move away from the use of European descriptors in the 1980s. However, our first Bin 0 Shiraz didn't appear until 1990.

So what makes this wine so special? It's always been produced from our oldest vines. The fruit is selected from the lower yielding blocks of the historic Concongella vineyard at Great Western. This vineyard is home to 19th- and 20th-century Shiraz plantings, which result in low-yielding, intensely flavoured fruit. We hand select, sort and ferment the fruit in small batches followed by intense barrel selection.

Best's No. 0 is an Australian classic with an impressive pedigree of nearly 150 vintages. It is powerful yet elegant, complex yet harmonious, with many years of great vintages ahead of it yet. Bin 0 has been awarded "Excellent” by Andrew Caillard MW within the esteemed Langton's Classification.

When Viv Thomson started making Bin 0 decades ago, it was a different story to how the winery is run these days. His work in the cellar was done by candlelight, with limited electricity, no fermentation control, no new oak and horses carrying out lots of the back-breaking work in the vineyard."  Best's Wines

About the winery

The story 

The story of Best's begins in 1866 when Henry Best purchases 30ha of land in the small town of Great Western. It was a property named Concongella. Henry planted the first vines in 1868. Best's original vineyards are among the oldest and rarest pre-phylloxera plantings in the world. The Nursery Block contains 39 varieties and that are thought to be sourced from the Busby collection, Australia's first vines. A number of the vines planted in the Nursery Block have defied identification and are thought to exist nowhere else in the world. 

In the early 20^th century, Henry Best presents his wines throughout Europe and was awarded gold medals in Paris, Bordeaux, Brussels and London. In 1913 Henry Best dies at age 81 and is buried in the Great Western cemetery. 

In 1920 the Thompson Family purchases the Concongella Vineyard from the Best family. The Thompson Family had originally settled in Great Western in 1893 and purchased a winery at Rhymney (13km south of Henry Best). 

In 1961 Viv Thomson joins his family for his first vintage. In 1967 Best's Old Vine Pinot Meunier was first produced. In 1975 Viv decided to appoint the first external winemaker, Trevor Mast. Best's had grown significantly and Viv was needed to manage the company and develop relationships further afield.  

The 1992 vintage of the flagship Thomson Family Shiraz is first released in 1993 to commemorate 100 years since the Thomson family settled in Great Western. In 2000 Best's cornerstone wine, Bin No. 1 Shiraz is made for the first time. 

In 2008 Viv Thomson hands over the reins of the company to son Ben. In 2020 the Thomson Family celebrates 100 years as custodians of Best's Wines. 

Notable Awards 

2011 Best's Bin 1 Shiraz wins the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the 2012 Royal Melbourne Wine Show.

2014 Best's Thomson Family Shiraz wins the 2017 Halliday Wine of the Year.

Langton's classifies Best's Thomson Family Shiraz as 'Exceptional' and Best's Bin 0 Shiraz as 'Outstanding' in 2018

Best's awarded Best Value Winery of the Year in James Halliday's 2021 Wine Companion.

2021 Foudre Ferment Riesling wins the 2023 Halliday Wine of the Year.