The Barossa is the home of Shiraz in Australia, and is the place that has seen most of the country’s famous Shiraz come to life. A lot of truly spectacular wines have emerged from this region. However, more recently there has been one man who is doing his own thing, pushing for ever-more pure and balanced wines, Fraser McKinley.
In the past, Fraser worked with the Standish Wine Company and Torbreck Vintners, but in 2006 he embarked on a totally new project. He started a small winery that goes by the curious name of Sami-Odi, producing minuscule quantities of Syrah (he doesn’t say Shiraz!) of the highest order. He doesn’t just doesn’t make generic wines of the Barossa, but he carefully selects plots in some of the valley’s finest vineyards and vinifies them separately to create a cuvée, thus combining their strengths.
95 Points Mike Bennie
Brooding, moody, rich yet savoury red of great depth, length, assertion. No hiding from the bold perfume that sets off with sweet-turned earth, undergrowth, ripe plum, black olive and a lift of floral things. Courses through the palate; a march of berry and blood, a fight with a blackberry bush, brambles and all. It’s sweet-edged, a sarsaparilla character meets salted plum meets juicy currants. It shows that richness of fruit from lazy days in sunshine on dense earth, but seems to lift on a sluice of cool acidity and keep drinkability in tune. Soft ribbons of tannin shape the wine’s overall feel. Luscious and harmonious wine of great regional-parish-vineyard expression.
