2009 Ares Shiraz

Showing a more elegant and stylish profile from bottle than from barrel, 2009 Two Hands Shiraz Ares is the estate’s top Shiraz and comes from vineyards in both McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley. Aged for a total of 23-months, with the final 12 months in 100% new French oak hogsheads, it possesses a classic, yet beautifully pure and fresh profile, with perfectly ripe black cherries and blackberry liqueur intermixed with notions of rosemary, graphite, violets, and mineral aromas that, quite literally, soar from the glass. Full-bodied and balanced on the palate, with a rich, yet deft texture, racy acidity, and solid mid-palate concentration and depth, this serious Shiraz is edgy and firm now, and needs 2-3 years of bottle age to fully flesh out. It should drink well for two decades or more.

A barrel sample and the estate's top wine, the 2009 Two Hands Shiraz Ares is dense, un-evolved and primary on the nose, possessing thick, chocolatey black fruits, pen ink, asphalt, graphite, and meaty aromatics. Serious and very full bodied on the palate, with chalky mineral, earth, and ash like flavors cutting through the decadent fruit, this possesses big structure, a huge mid-palate, loads of tannin and extract, and an explosive finish. This will most likely require 3-5 years of cellar time, and drink well for two decades. Easily the largest scaled and most structured of the ‘09s from this estate.