2022 THE EMPTY QUARTER
2022 DUNE The Empty Quarter is a blend of shiraz / grenache / mataro along with a small amount of touriga nacional.
A medium bodied wine of fragrance and substance.
Glossy purple fruits, mulberry and dark cherry, sweet sage flower lift balanced with savoury notes of aniseed, cured meats, with some white pepper lift. The palate is juicy to start with blue and dark fruits, plum and blueberry, a little dark cocoa, fine and long tannins, supple and succulent.
New release 2022 was awarded a trophy at the Sydney Royal Wine Show - The Arthur Kelman Perpetual Trophy for Best Shiraz Dominant Blend
"Common companions, shiraz, grenache and mataro are joined here by a splash of touriga nacional. This sits more towards the midweight camp, with bright and crunchy red fruit notes with some blueberry, boysenberry and red florals accented by cracked earth, ferrous notes, white pepper and brown cardamom. It’s a terrifically bright but flavoursome wine, with a sneakily grippy line of fine tannin adding savoury interest and making it a brilliant foil for food."
Young Gun of Wines' "Wines We Love" - September 2023
Notes on the 2021:
Gold Medal - Royal Adelaide Wine Show
95 points - Wine Companion
“The complex bouquet offers dark fruits and earthy, spicy notes of forest floor taken onboard with enthusiasm by the savoury tannins on the palate and finish.” James Halliday
Notes on the 2020 DUNE The Empty Quarter:
"A co-fermented blend of shiraz, grenache and mourvèdre, plus a little negroamaro. Notes of plum and glacé cherry on the bouquet are outgunned by the black and red fruits and firm tannins of the medium- to full-bodied palate, with an unexpected juicy finish. Intriguing wine. 95 points" - James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
Notes on the 2017 DUNE The Empty Quarter:
Gold Medal, 95 Points - 2018 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards
"Mataro, Shiraz, Grenache, and Montepulciano. Nice name for a wine. It could star Bryan Brown, or one of the equally ruggedly handsome Lloyd boys. Liquorice, spice, red and black fruits, pleasant earthiness. Medium-bodied, savoury and earthy – Mataro takes front seat – bright berry fruit, ripe furry tannin, and a dried herb perfumed, spice-laden finish of excellent length. Outstanding. 94 points" - Winefront
Notes on the 2016 DUNE The Empty Quarter:
"The bouquet is perfumed with meadow flowers and forest berries, precisely replayed on the light to medium bodied but intensely juicy palate. 95 points" - James Halliday Wine Companion
"High quaffability but with more interest and depth than that suggests. It’s a bright, just medium weight red, quite spicy, but not overly so, and shows a crisp-dry finish that kind of feels part nouveau for all its freshness. That being said, there’s a ripple of tannin in the choc-berry world of this wine, and the smudge of dustiness that lingers gives a savoury edge. All day, every day drinking, with pizazz. Appealing stuff" - Mike Bennie