Home > Wines We Love > 2012 Seppelt ‘Show Sparkling’ Limited Release Shiraz

An Australian classic, and an Australian Christmas Day classic wine, too. Dark fruits and spice are buoyed by the fizz, making for a luxurious, heady wine but one that boasts ample freshness.

Producer
Seppelt
Region

Grampians
RRP

$100
Vintage

2012
Variety/Varieties

Shiraz (Syrah)
Alc./Vol.

13%

This is Australia’s most lauded sparkling shiraz, and a wine only released infrequently when vintage conditions suit. It also sees an extra-long slumbering on lees before disgorging. This one saw nine years of bottle conditioning, which is extraordinary when you consider how bright, lively and vibrant the end product is.

Tasting note

Released in June 2023, this is the latest edition of this much-loved classic. Tarry dark fruits and spiced plum notes, with baked blackberry Danish, dark cherry and blackstrap licorice. There’s a refreshingly crisp balance to this, with fruit weight naturally having its say but the sugar supporting rather than overriding the experience. A Christmas Day drink? Well, this is the way to do it right.

Themes of this wine

Sparkling shiraz

Sparkling shiraz, formerly called sparkling burgundy, is a uniquely Australian thing. Some link the origins to Edmund Mazure in South Australia, while others to Seppelt Great Western in the Grampians when Hans Irvine started making some of the first traditional method sparkling wines in the country. Whoever was first, both played with the style in the late 19th century, likely independently discovering it. The Seppelt winery still arguably produces the leading example of the style in the late released Show Reserve. Today, sparkling shiraz has waned somewhat in popularity, but it is still regarded as a traditional Christmas wine – in Australia at least.

The Grampians

The wine zone of Western Victoria contains the three major regions of the Grampians, the Pyrenees and Henty, with Great Western a subregion of the Grampians. The Grampians and the Pyrenees share a little in common, with the elevation of their attendant mountain ranges contributing to their subregional character, as well as a specialisation in red wines. Being further inland to the north-east, the Pyrenees is more continental in climate with warm days and cold nights, while the Grampians feel the influence of the Southern Ocean, with sea breezes doing the cooling at night. In the Grampians, the kingship of shiraz (and riesling for white grapes, though whites in general account for only about 15 per cent of the total plantings) goes back some time. In Great Western, Seppelt was founded in 1863, while Best’s followed in 1865, and both have made and cemented significant reputations for producing shiraz.

Syrah/Shiraz

Shiraz dominates the Australian wine industry, accounting for nearly a third of this country’s vines. The grape’s traditional home is in France’s Northern Rhône, with wines that combine elegance and power, while Australia is perhaps best known for the muscular styles from warmer areas. Today, drinkers of Australian shiraz are spoilt for choice with expressions ranging from the elegant and spicy to the monumental.

Home > Wines We Love > 2021 Seppelt ‘St Peters’ Shiraz

This is winemaker Clare Dry’s first ‘St Peters’ Shiraz, and what a debut it is – perfumed, intense, spicy, silky and just so effortless with it.

Producer
Seppelt
Region

Grampians
RRP

$80
Vintage

2021
Variety/Varieties

Shiraz (Syrah)
Alc./Vol.

14.5%

The St Peters Vineyard no longer exists, but the vine material from the 1863 vines – the region’s first – was propagated to plant the Seppelt Great Western Vineyard. This wine has been made since 1964 (though it was called ‘Great Western Hermitage’ back then), with the best blocks in any given year blended for this flagship wine, which is only made in top years.

Tasting note

From an excellent cooler vintage, this is supremely harmonious and detailed, an effortless display awash with character. There’s considerable intensity without obvious weight, a melange of red and black fruits accented with spice, black pepper, sultry florals, cacao nibs and a meaty, smoky and rocky complexity. Finely hewn tannins carry the silky, supple fruit, finishing long and impactful, but the harmony of fruit and structure keep it light on its feet. This is a great release.

Themes of this wine

The Grampians

The wine zone of Western Victoria contains the three major regions of the Grampians, the Pyrenees and Henty, with Great Western a subregion of the Grampians. The Grampians and the Pyrenees share a little in common, with the elevation of their attendant mountain ranges contributing to their subregional character, as well as a specialisation in red wines. Being further inland to the north-east, the Pyrenees is more continental in climate with warm days and cold nights, while the Grampians feel the influence of the Southern Ocean, with sea breezes doing the cooling at night. In the Grampians, the kingship of shiraz (and riesling for white grapes, though whites in general account for only about 15 per cent of the total plantings) goes back some time. In Great Western, Seppelt was founded in 1863, while Best’s followed in 1865, and both have made and cemented significant reputations for producing shiraz.

Syrah/Shiraz

Shiraz dominates the Australian wine industry, accounting for nearly a third of this country’s vines. The grape’s traditional home is in France’s Northern Rhône, with wines that combine elegance and power, while Australia is perhaps best known for the muscular styles from warmer areas. Today, drinkers of Australian shiraz are spoilt for choice with expressions ranging from the elegant and spicy to the monumental.

Home > Wines We Love > 2021 Seppelt ‘Drumborg’ Pinot Meunier

From one of Victoria’s great vineyard sites – a brace of red fruits are spiced with white pepper and cypress notes, with a supple, bright and fresh palate, equal parts silky and vibrant.

Producer
Seppelt
Region

Henty
RRP

$36
Vintage

2021
Variety/Varieties

Pinot meunier
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

Seppelt’s Drumborg is one of Victoria’s great vineyard sites. Perhaps best known for riesling, pinot meunier thrives in the cool conditions of Henty, with this Clare Dry’s first release as the Seppelt senior winemaker. A brace of red fruits are spiced with white pepper and cypress notes, with a supple, bright and fresh palate, equal parts silky and vibrant.

Tasting note

Herbal notes, with an almost cypress pitch, are joined on the nose with smashed marasca cherries, macerated strawberries and dried cranberries, some celery salt and white pepper adding savoury punctuation. This drinks in the supple mould, with a gentle tug of tannin and acid giving definition, as you might expect from pinot noir, and though pinot meunier can tend to the less complex than its more noble cousin, this mounts a pretty compelling case for equal billing.

Themes of this wine

Pinot meunier

Pinot meunier is a grape mainly consigned to sparkling wine production, with still red wines relatively rare. But in Australia, though the output is modest, the grape has a meaningful place as a quality grape for red wine production (alongside sparkling wine), and with a noble history that stretches back to the 1830s.

Henty

Henty spills across the extreme south-west of Victoria, with less than 200 hectares planted to vines and a decidedly cool climate, favouring riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir. While it may not be heavily planted, the region boasts some of this country’s most exciting vineyard land, largely planted to basalt soils over clay and with bracing breezes funnelling across from the Southern Ocean bringing night-time temperatures down significantly. Many would argue that it is home to two vineyards that vie to be the country’s best producers of riesling: Crawford River and Seppelt Drumborg.

2012 Seppelt ‘Show Sparkling’ Limited Release Shiraz Grampians

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Sparkling shiraz

The Grampians

Syrah/Shiraz

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

The Grampians

Syrah/Shiraz

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Pinot meunier

Henty

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