2023 Polygon No. 1
A savoury and lifted expression of Shiraz from 6 rows of 70-year-old vines. Wildly aromatic from a cool year, this young wine presents a wall of cool blue and black fruit with charcuterie and pepper hints. It’s complete, seamless and utterly compelling on the palate with integrated tannin and a distinctly mineral feel. This wine will continue to improve with age and will reward long cellaring.
Estate grown and made
Certified organic and biodynamic fruit
[VARIETIES] 100% Shiraz
[ALC] 13.5%
[PRODUCTION] 878 bottles
[CELLARING] 10+ years
Deep crimson with a suggestion of blue/purple at the rim. Captivating aroma that offers a perfect combination of everything you might look for in Syrah-style Shiraz: peppery dark fruit, a light stemmy freshness, a hint of smoked meat and a delicate floral (peony?) character – aromas that seem incompatible but are perfectly possible with Shiraz in the right place. On the palate this is equally captivating: immense freshness, richly-smoothly-dry and super-fine tannins, deep in fruit without unwanted sweetness. The epitome of elegant, finely textured Shiraz with the dry/minerally flavour and texture of fruit from vines grown on schist. Vinous beauty. So light on its feet yet extremely persistent. 13.5% Drink 2026 – 2038.
18/20 Points, Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Refined and pure, with deeply brooding, dark-fruited aromas of blackcurrants, dark cherries, rose petals, pencil shavings and black olive tapenade. The palate is full-bodied with finely tuned tannins and balanced acidity that give a round and mouthwatering character to the wine. The influence of concrete creates a robust, tactile finish. 80% whole-cluster fermentation. Made from 70-year-old vines. Drink or hold
95 Points, Ryan Montgomery, jamessuckling.com
The 2023 Polygon 1 Shiraz is perfumed and chalky on the nose, with a preponderance of pressed flowers, dried herbs and crushed shells. The vines for this wine are grown on schist and quartzite, two metamorphic rocks. The site is fractured and lovely and provides the vines with ample opportunity to get in and around the soil within the cracks. The Shiraz vines here are old grafted Riesling vines. There is a tiny 0.1-hectare section (approximately 300 kilograms) in this long, skinny block that is perennially excluded from this wine. In that section, there is very little fractured rock in the soil profile, and the fruit character dominates the whole. The fruit in the rest of the block was picked at 13.3° Baumé and landed at 13.7% alcohol at bottling. The wine is silky and supple, chalky and lean, with cooling mineral characters, blue fruits and flavors of marine influence, all bound by pliable texture. In 2023, the bunch architecture was much looser and longer, and the proportion of whole bunch was reduced to 80%, from the usual 100%. It's more tightly coiled than the Polygon 11, a touch longer too, but it's certainly not as plush. Sealed under cork.
94 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Very deep, opaque purple colour; there are pepper and graphite, smoky reductive, bunchy herbal nuances with pervasive blueberry fruit aromas, a trace of cigar tobacco, the palate full-bodied and firm in a quite elegant style. A cracking young shiraz with elegance not common in young Barossa shiraz.
94 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
