Sons of Eden Romulus Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz 2012

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.

"Fleshy with a dam of fine tannin over which irrepressible flavour spills. Loaded with regional hospitality. Has vitality and avoids jammy-ness while retaining power and opulence."  Jeremy Pringle

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.

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.

"The estate-grown wines are of outstanding quality” - James Halliday

"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 2025.

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

"Consistent with the '10 vintage, the colour is distinctly brighter (but no less deep) than that of Remus; here extended maturation in American oak serves to increase the difference between the wines, but also completes the cycle of totally delicious flavours on the medium to full-bodied palate. How do you choose between the two? The finesse and complexity of Remus, or the supple generosity of Romulus? Drink by 2042."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points

"Fleshy with a dam of fine tannin over which irrepressible flavour spills. Satsuma plums, toasted brown spice, redcurrant peaks and desiccated coconut. Vanilla malt oak. Loaded with regional hospitality. Not a caricature though. Has vitality and avoids jammy-ness while retaining power and opulence."  Jeremy Pringle, Wine Will Eat Itself – 94 points

"Very fragrant and strong in all respects. The layers of fruit are balanced by fine, firm tannins and the oak is a little obvious at the moment. At least five years' cellaring required."  Winewise – Highly Recommended 

Awards

Gold Medal - Adelaide Wine Show 2014, Class 30 Shiraz, Vintage 2012 

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, 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.