#409 John Duval Wines - Modern Barossa

I got to meet legend in Australian wine making, but the man I met was an unassuming Aussie who happened to be one of the greatest wine makers to come from down under.  John Duval, the third winemaker trusted to make Australia's most famous wine, Penfold's Grange, worked for the company until 2002 and in the following year, he set out on his own, sourcing fruit from his friends in the Barossa.  His aim is to produce "modern Barossa", not the massive jam-bombs that have become the norm and that he made for his 28 years at Penfolds, but by producing wines that express the terroir, using the old vines that the region is blessed with and, to quote the man himself, "moving away from chasing points from influential critics".

During his time at Penfold's, he created the RWT wine, and Duval cited this as the starting point for the journey he is now on, and now doing his 38th vintage in the Barossa, I tried his range.

2010 John Duval Plexus Marsanne Roussanne Viognier
Bright, clean and fresh with a little lemon coming through on the nose.  The palate is very textured, and that is what you notice more than any flavour.  It starts fresh and clean, leads onto a zingy citrus and sherbet fizz, followed by a soft, gentle, creamy texture.  The finish has a beautiful honey note coming through to round everything off.  Stunning.  94pts £22

2007 John Duval Plexus Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre
Bright aromas of cherries, pomegranate and bramble compote.  The wine has a savoury flavour, cocoa and toast all bound up in a leather bag, but with some fresh dark berries coming through.  A dusting of spice on the finish with some leathery tannins on the back end.  A very good wine, and I would say, the wine that is the one you have to try.  93pts £27

2007 John Duval Entity Shiraz
A sweeter element on the nose with juicy cherries and a little floral element emerging from the dark fruit.  This leads onto a fresh mint aroma, dusted in cocoa.  There is a meaty, fruity flavour initially, with some green vegetal notes coming through and then black pepper spice with berry skins and cherry stone on the finish.  I liked this, as it is a great example of what a shiraz can be in the Barossa, but, to me, it was the weakest of the range, but that is like saying that Sly Stallone is weak in comparison to Hulk Hogan - it is still a very good wine! 90pts £22

2008 John Duval Eligo Shiraz
The first words I wrote were "this smells really nice".  Savoury mint notes comes through with coffee next and rich, concentrated dark fruit.  There was a touch of damson coming off, giving a lovely bittersweet aroma.  Dark berries start on the palate, but then a brightness emerges of blueberries, chocolate and a little aniseed.  A tannic finish, obviously a wine that needs some time to mature, but it is still superbly drinkable and the tannins, although big, don't spoil the wine in the slightest.  96pts £65

John Duval's wines are outstanding examples of what Australia should be making.  They have some of the oldest soils and the oldest vines so the potential for quality is there, and he has exploited this to produce these lovely wines.  Every producer that followed the big and jammy Penfold's style of wine twenty odd years ago should be looking again at the new work of John Duval and saying "I should be doing that too".  These wines are the template of what good Australian wine should be.

Links
John Duval Wines