Standish The Relic Shiraz Viognier 2022

James Suckling Top 100 Wines of Australia 2024

"The 2022 release as a whole is the most balanced, most exciting release of Standish Shiraz to date. It has confirmed that Standish is one of the greatest, if not the greatest  Shiraz producer in this country."  Erin Larkin

Dan Standish has the Barossa Valley running through his veins. A 6th Generation native, Dan created his Standish label in 1999 whilst still working at Torbreck. Today his wines are some of the most highly sought-after in the world and are critically acclaimed both here in Australia and internationally.

"It is pure fruited and powerfully aromatic, as this cuvee always is. This vintage is a prettier, finer but no less long or coiled version of itself, and it will prove to be one of the greats in the cellar. The tannins certainly are a highlight for me. Built for age but also, in the framework of this beautiful season, absolutely available to you right now. An effortless beauty, here."  Erin Larkin

The Relic is Dan's powerhouse Shiraz Viognier blend. It's the Barossa meets Côte-Rôtie, or  'Côte-Rôtie on steroids' as Gary Walsh opined. As head winemaker at Torbreck, Dan crafted the Run Rig, Torbreck's larger-than-life old vine Shiraz Viognier, and he brings all that knowledge to the fore with 'The Relic'. Full-bodied, lush, creamy-textured and silky.

Erin Larkin reviews the 2022 Standish The Relic Shiraz Viognier (3:39 into the video)

Expert reviews

"The 2022 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier contains 2% Viognier skins, and this addition presents in this vintage as a core of raspberry and pomegranate. It is pure fruited and powerfully aromatic, as this cuvee always is. Interestingly, I am tasting this wine from two different glasses: one opened two days ago, one opened this morning. They are quite different, telling us once again that oxygen really is a friend to this producer, especially if choosing to drink these wines young. While the bottle opened two days ago is complete, balanced and utterly refined, it speaks more of its florals and fruit than it does its savory register of spice and complexity. However, the wine opened today has nuances of bacon fat and exotic spice. It is tightly coiled and springy and nowhere near as giving as the former. So, choose your own path. This vintage is a prettier, finer but no less long or coiled version of itself, and it will prove to be one of the greats in the cellar. The tannins certainly are a highlight for me. Built for age but also, in the framework of this beautiful season, absolutely available to you right now. An effortless beauty, here. 14.9% alcohol, sealed under natural cork. Drink 2024-2052."  Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 98+ points

"The '22 release sees the Lamella fruit source shift to the ancient vines of the Stonegarden vineyard, planted in 1885, just out of Springton in the Eden Valley and a source for some of the region's top cuvées. It is a jaw-droppingly beautiful wine. Taut and finely structured despite the seemingly endless depth of its pure core of plum, black cherry and blue fruits. Hints of raspberry pip, sage, vanilla bean, sandalwood, liminal Averna tones, dried citrus rind, charcuterie, cold black tea, licorice root and crushed rock. Its fruit is sleek and polished, its line graceful, with an underlying sense of latent power, tannins uber-fine and compact, and there's a quartz-like clarity to its acidity as it propels the wine onwards. Give this one a good decant and pop a few bottles away. Drink: 2024-2046."  Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion - 98 points and Special Value Wine  ★

"The nose is deeply perfumed and lifted, with complex aromas of wild blackberries, boysenberries, licorice and violets. The palate is full-bodied with seamless tannins and fine acidity, giving notes of mulberries, cassia bark, blueberry bush, cured meat and iodine. Exceptionally well balanced and pure, with a balance of power and freshness. Co-fermented with 2% viognier from vines planted in 1912. Drink or hold."  James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com - 98 points and Top 100 Wines of Australia 2024

"There is a considered 1% of viognier in this wine. It was wonderful to run through barrels with Dan Standish earlier this year, a matrix of information about the wines and how detailed the final wines are from the barrels considered.

Rich and robust red albeit with a thread of coursing minerality, frisky, floral perfume (and mouth perfume), varied red and black berry fruits, turned earth, game meat, woody spices, faint minty-alpine herb notes. So very much going. Slippery and slurpy, cinched with fine, grainy tannins, a faint sooty spice element to that but feels mostly skinsy and tight by virtue of pure, deep grapiness. A throaty, rich, somewhat warm red with impeccable credentials and great balance. Regal in its stance. Drink 2024-2038."  Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, 95+ points

"Pop and pour: Very purple, very floral, quite some spice and incense, some roasted meat, youthful coulis-like flavour, some mint too. It’s full-bodied, but kind of trim, pretty firm in tannin, a lot of graphite and grip, aromatic, but also lots of grilled meat, black olive and dried herb savoury stuff. Grainy and firm on a succulent yet savoury finish of excellent length. Will be long term I think. 95 points.

Open for two days: More liquorice and new leather, sweet spices, still plenty of perfume. Robust meaty and savoury wine, blueberry and dark cherry, tannin is firm and offers chamois-like grip, and the finish is very long and dense. Shows some warmth, but very impressive wine all up. It’s essence-like in concentration, and quite a lot of wine. 95 points."  Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, 95 points

Awards

James Suckling Top 100 Wines of Australia 2024
Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

The relic

99% Shiraz, 1% Viognier. Sourced from the Hongell Family Vineyard, Krondorf. Planted on own roots in 1991. Clay Loam over weathered bedrock with intermittent bands of quartz. Shiraz grown in this part of the Barossa tends to be very aggressively tannic. We planted a single row of Viognier alongside the Shiraz, which is picked on the same morning and co-fermented. The co-fermentation of even a tiny amount of Viognier not only adds heady aromatics to the mix but also softens the otherwise firm tannins. 

About the Winery

Dan Standish has the Barossa Valley running through his veins. A 6th Generation native, Dan created his Standish label in 1999 whilst still working at Torbreck. Today his wines are some of the most highly sought-after in the world and are critically acclaimed both here in Australia and internationally.

Standish Wine Company is a strikingly beautiful winery located in the Barossa Valley. The winery and vineyards are owned by Dan and Nicole Standish. Dan was first introduced to the art of pruning grape vines by his grandfather at the young age of six in their ancestral vineyard. He founded The Standish Wine Company in 1999 after securing a section of his family vineyard in the Barossa Valley. The same ancient plants that Dan carefully hand pruned are now used to produce his old vine shiraz, fittingly titled 'The Relic'.

Dan and Nicole work side by side at their modern, cavernous winery. The large stone and brick building is framed by lavender bushes and grand old vines. They purchased the site in 2013 a decade after it was built by French-managed company The Colonial Estate. The structure is like something straight out of France's Rhone Valley or Spain's Rioja, both parts of the world that Dan has worked in. He also made wine in California's Napa and Sonoma Valleys, before working for Torbreck. 

The estate produces a number of examples of Barossa Shiraz, including 'The Relic', 'The Standish', The Schubert Theorem and Lamella. Each wine is produced with the utmost attention to detail, blending traditional techniques with modern technology.