St Hallett Old Block Shiraz 2002

James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2005

This is the flagship of St Hallett's wines and has become one of the great icons of Australian wine. Shiraz grapes varying in age from 60 to 120 years old are sourced from both the Barossa and Eden Valleys. The Barossa component provides the fundamental core of blackberry fruit, while the higher altitude Eden Valley component adds the cooler climate spicy elements and some savoury texture.

"This is one of the best Old Blocks I can remember, an exercise in positive elegance from start to finish. It has excellent texture, structure and length to its red and black fruits, with a cornucopia touch of mocha-accented oak. The tannins, too, are fine and long."  James Halliday

"73% Barossa Valley and 27% Eden Valley fruit. The wine is deep garnet red; complex aromas of coffee, mocha, cigar box and white pepper combine with plum and berry fruits and smoke and spice derived from the oak maturation; on the palate game and white pepper flavours from the cooler climate, higher altitude Eden Valley vineyards are blended with the rich chocolate and blackberry flavours characteristic of fruit from the Barossa Valley. The wine is rich and dense with supple tannins and elegant structure and texture. The 2002 will evolve majestically over the next 15-20 years. Those with the virtue of patience will be more than ever rewarded by a wine of great richness, finesse and longevity.

The 2002 vintage had similar characteristics to the classic 1990 vintage – a moderate summer leading up to vintage that led into an extended 'Indian' summer of uninterrupted warm days reaching well into early May. This vintage truly has the classic elements for Old Block Shiraz; the low-cropped Shiraz from the Barossa Valley is showing gravelly tannins with the traditional mocha coffee and youthful cherry plum flavours, while the Eden Valley component contributes a savoury textured suppleness and a fresh floral vitality."  St Hallett

Expert reviews

"The wine is a wonderful expression of the stellar 2002 vintage and a benchmark for Barossa old vine shiraz. The colour is a magnificent deep crimson; the nose is a complex mix of blackberry, spice and mocha (but still relatively shy and reserved at this stage); the palate is supple, smooth and seamless, full of focused, pristine blackberry fruit. This is not one of your blockbuster numbers, but a lesson in sophistication, elegance and style – for that end, the wine is now matured solely in fine-grained French oak for 20 months. It is a wine that flows effortlessly across the tongue and which beguiles one more and more with its subtlety and complexity as the bottle disappears."  Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines

"The wine which propelled St Hallett into national and international demand. The vast majority of the vineyard blocks involved have old, dry-grown vines, but in the manner of Grange, the individual contributions vary from one year to the next. This is one of the best Old Blocks I can remember, an exercise in positive elegance from start to finish. It has very good colour, and excellent texture, structure and length to its red and black fruits, with a cornucopia touch of mocha-accented oak. The tannins, too, are fine and long."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points and Top 100 Wines of 2005

"One of the best Old Blocks I can recall, this has great colour and decadently lush depths of delicious sweet fruit in the chocolate, meaty/gamey, black olive and overripe plum spectrum. Big and opulent, yet maintains some cool-year elegance."  Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine - 96 points  ★★★★★

"Impressive colour. Deep red with a purple tinge. Very concentrated, intense, spice and raspberry jam nose, with a slightly unusual cool-year vintage character. Some mint and tomato sauce characters, with a slightly shrill acidity and a slight lack of detail - but it's just so young for its age. A big, bold wine that is out of style, but shows the particular spicy character of its cool vintage. It still needs time to hit its peak. 27% Eden Valley. Drink 2013-2037."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 95 points (Tasted May 2013)

"As time goes on I'm falling slightly out of love with the 2002 South Australian vintage – particularly above quaffer level – but this wine has got it just about perfect. It's ripe but herbal, and perhaps tinged with a little tinned corn, but the soft, easy flow of ripe fruit is quite delicious, and at the root of it there's liqueurous, black, plummy fruit that's full of brightness. There's toasty, chocolatey oak but it's seamless and integrated, and while there's tannin here it teams beautifully in with the weight of fruit. If you wanted to show someone how good young Australian shiraz can taste, this would be an excellent place to take them. Drink: 2005-2015."  Campbell Mattinson, Winefront Monthly - 94 points

"Deep, smoky and rather herbal, its reductive aromas of dark berry fruits, plums and cherries overlie cedar/chocolate oak and some rustic, meaty nuances, underbrush and spice. Plush, smooth and juicy, it's long and elegant, presenting a deep and slightly jammy spectrum of slightly meaty berry flavours framed by finely crafted tannins. It finishes with attractive minty and sour-edged fruit notes. Drink 2014-2022."  Jeremy Oliver - 93 points

"There's just not enough room in one small review to properly appraise a wine like this... Ripe but perfectly balanced, the '02 Old Block is all about finesse."  Fergus McGhie, Canberra Times

Awards

James Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2005

About the winery

Established in 1944 by the Lindner Family, St Hallett represents the very spirit and soul of winemaking in the Barossa. For most of that time it was owned, or part-owned, by one family, the pioneering Lindners, who arrived in the Barossa from Silesia in 1838. In 2017, St Hallett was acquired by Accolade. 

St Hallett sources all grapes from within the Barossa and is synonymous with the region's icon variety, shiraz. From the beginning, St Hallett understood the importance of saving old vines and focusing on varieties that thrive in the Barossa region. Strong long-term relationships with focused and passionate growers give St Hallett access to the Barossa's most prized vineyards, some of which were planted over 100 years ago. Over the years, St Hallett has built up a deep understanding of the rich tapestry of vineyard sites and climates in the Barossa and sources the finest vines and highest-quality parcels of fruit the Barossa can offer.

Old Block Shiraz (using grapes from Lyndoch and Eden Valley) is their flagship wine, supported by Blackwell Shiraz (using grapes from Greenock, Ebenezer and Moppa Hills).