After a few days in McLaren, I woke up at five in the morning for a country drive through the Adelaide Hills on my way to the beating heart of Australian wine: the Barossa Valley. As the hills give way to the valley flats, the contrast between the McLaren Vale and Barossa is stark. Endless miles of vineyards blanket the landscape—it being my first time in the valley, I was a little shell-shocked by the sheer vastness of its plantings. As you approach medium-sized towns like Tanunda, industrial tank farms of wine are a commonplace sight. I spent evenings there working in the Valley Pub, where after five, a continuous stream of haggard cellar hands and winemakers with wine-stained flannel and jeans sauntered in for a pint.

There’s no wine that is more closely aligned to Australia than Barossa Shiraz. And you’ll find it here in every style, shape, and form. From inexpensive, tasty bottles to world-class collectibles, Barossa runs the entire spectrum. And while there are plenty of tourist trap cellar doors, there are also plenty of spectacular, well-run tasting rooms where any serious wine lover would feel at home. The best of these was the Artisans of Barossa.

Artisans is a winemaking collective that harbors the top winemakers of the Barossa Valley. Not unlike Tin City in Paso Robles or the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, Artisans houses a dozen or so small, premium to ultra-premium winemakers. Together they share a winemaking facility, decades of experience, and a tasting room where all their wines are poured.

The first order of business was meeting up with Tim and John Duval, of John Duval wines. John is an absolute winemaking legend. For nearly 30 years, he was at the helm of Penfolds, making decades of Penfolds Grange, arguably crowning him the most important winemaker in Australia to date. And, although I’ve known Tim for years from his visits to K&L, it was an immense pleasure to finally meet the two of them together and talk wine. John’s 2021 John Duval "Entity" Shiraz Barossa Valley South Australia $29.99 95JH 94JS 94VN 94WS is always one of my favorite Australian Shiraz, but I had no idea how serious the vineyard sources are. In fact, a significant portion of Hoffman Vineyard Shiraz makes its way into the blend, which would be the equivalent of blending To Kalon into a $30 Napa Cabernet. Further, John stressed the importance of blending both Eden Valley Shiraz with Barossa Valley Shiraz to balance ripeness and concentration of fruit from Barossa with the freshness and brightness from vineyards in Eden. The opportunity to meet with a 50+ year veteran winemaker with John’s level of distinction is rare, and I felt humbled by the experience.

For anyone who feels like Australian Shiraz is just one thing—take a look at our selection of Barossa Valley wines. Ranging from great under-$20 values like 2017 Auld Family Wines "Strawbridge" Shiraz Barossa Valley $14.99 95SK to incredibly modern, and fantastic wines like the 2021 Standish "The Standish" Shiraz Barossa Valley $139.99 96WA and the 2019 Torbreck "The Factor" Shiraz Barossa Valley South Australia $94.99 97JS 96JH 96WA. If you haven’t tried a Barossa Shiraz recently, I highly encourage you to try our selections and see for yourself.

- Thomas Smith, Australia Buyer