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.
94 Points Mike Bennie
Concentration, power, grace. That comes to mind immediately. Feels like it slides but the tannin profile builds in a quiet and assertive way, seamlessly in its weave of dried floral things and char finishes things off. Perfume is all pot pourri, dried cranberry, black olive, old spice cupboard and smoky paprika. Flavours similar, tannin chewy, grippy, well done. Grunty in a way, complex as all get out. An assertive expression, bolder than some years in its intensity and drive, but not without the hallmarks of great Sami Odi wines.
