Sons of Eden Romulus Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz 2008
Style: Red Wine
Variety: Shiraz
Closure: Cork
Sons of Eden Romulus Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz 2008
Camberwell
Burke Road
Camberwell VIC 3124
Australia
Producer: Sons of Eden
Country: Australia
Region: Barossa Valley
Vintage: 2008
Critic Score: 96
Alcohol: 14.5%
Size: 750 ml
Drink by: 2028
Sons of Eden is a partnership between Simon Cowham (one of Australia's most accomplished vignerons) and Corey Ryan (one of Australia's most accomplished winemakers). They make a formidable team and their exceptional skill and experience are expressed in the Sons of Eden Wines. Named in "Ten of the Best" by James Halliday in his 2010 Wine Companion.
"Initially slightly disjointed on release with the oak too prominent, the wine has blossomed over the last six months, with a complex bouquet and powerhouse palate of voluminous blackberry and dark berry fruit; the quality oak now playing a support role. Despite the abundant flavour, the wine has great structure, class and elegance." Nick Munday
Simon nurtures the vines that are used in some of the Eden/Barossa valley iconic wines. Indeed, 98% of the crop is sought after by the likes of Henschke, Yalumba and Torbreck. Only 2% of the crop (mostly old vineyards) is selected for Corey to craft into exquisite reds of considerable flavour, complexity and length. It is hard to imagine a better pedigree behind any wine label.
"The estate-grown wines are of outstanding quality” - James Halliday
Sons of Eden make four Shiraz-based reds. The flagship pair are the Romulus Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz and the Remus Old Vine Eden Valley Shiraz. Legend presents Romulus as the stronger, more powerful of the brothers and the Romulus is the bigger of the two, a plush Barossa red made from 80+ year-old vines in the Barossa Valley and matured in new American Oak hogsheads.
"Deep ruby and garnet in colour this alluring bouquet of vanilla chocolate and coffee bean meld with dark cherry and spicy plum notes. A powerful and fleshy palate displaying great length with layers of complex flavours. Built to last - optimum year 2022.
Hand harvested, destemmed and crushed into small 1.5 tonne open topped fermenters. A variety of fermentation techniques across different old vine batches contributes to a range of wine outcomes that are important in creating the layers of flavours and texture in the Romulus. All ferments, however, were hand plunged daily ensuring a gentle extraction and after a long period on skins the ferments were pressed to new American Oak hogsheads. Matured and racked only once through the 20-month maturation period provides for extended mouth-feel and wine palate texture. Prior to bottling, natural clarification and stabilisation techniques were employed to ensure minimal finings and no filtration." Sons of Eden
"Sons of Eden is one of my top picks among the hundreds of new small wineries coming out of Australia. It specializes in wines that manage to build grace and harmony into those ripe, opulent Aussie flavours. The Sons of Eden wines all strike me as exceptionally supple and smooth." Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator
Expert reviews
"The 2008 Sons of Eden Romulus, which is sourced from 80+ year-old vines in the Barossa Valley, is a wonderful follow-up to the delectable 2006 vintage – no Romulus was made in 2007. Initially slightly disjointed on release with the oak too prominent, the wine has blossomed over the last six months, with a complex bouquet and powerhouse palate of voluminous blackberry and dark berry fruit; the quality oak now playing a support role. Despite the abundant flavour, the wine has great structure, class and elegance." Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines - 96+ points
Awards
Gold Medal - Winewise Small Vigneron Award 2011, Class 45
About the winery
When winemaker Corey Ryan and multi-skilled viticulturist Simon Cowham established Sons of Eden in 2000, they already had years of experience in South Australia's Barossa and Eden Valleys.
Ryan has racked up more than 25 Barossa vintages and worked in New Zealand with Villa Maria Estates; he was awarded 2007 New Zealand Winestate Winemaker of the Year. Back home, he was a 2016 finalist in Gourmet Traveller Wine's Australian Winemaker of the Year. But it was his time as a winemaker at Henschke that lit his fire for the Eden Valley.
Cowham's early days included selling OddBins wines in its glory days, returning from England to work for the Winemakers' Federation of Australia. He switched to grape growing by qualifying as a viticulturist and joining Yalumba as manager of its Heggies and Pewsey Vale vineyards in the mid-'90s. In 2013, Barons of Barossa anointed him Barossa Winemaker of the Year. He, too, has 25-plus Barossa vintages under his belt.
More than 25 vineyard sites across the Barossa and Eden Valleys supply fruit to Sons of Eden: 10 are directly managed and operated by the label, and the rest are supplied by handshake agreements with their loyal generational growers. The success of the arrangement is demonstrated by three Most Successful Exhibitor awards from the Barossa Wine Show, two Winewise Small Vigneron Awards and an unbroken annual stream of five-red-star ratings from 2012 to now.
South Australia
South Australian is responsible for more than half the production of all Australian wine. It is home to more than 900 wineries across 18 wine regions. The regions are Adelaide Hills, Adelaide Plains, Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Coonawarra, Currency Creek, Eden Valley, Kangaroo Island, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Mount Benson, Mount Gambier, Padthaway, Riverland, Robe, Southern Fleurieu, Southern Flinders Ranges and Wrattonbully.
Many of the well-known names in the South Australian wine industry established their first vineyards in the late 1830s and early 1840s. The first vines in McLaren Vale were planted at Reynella in 1839 and Penfold's established Magill Estate on the outskirts of Adelaide in 1844.
South Australia has a vast diversity in geography and climate which allows the State to be able to produce a range of grape varieties - from cool climate Riesling in the Clare and Eden Vallies to the big, full bodied Shiraz wines of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Two of Australia's best-known wines, Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace, are produced here. There is much to discover in South Australia for the wine lover.