Winery: Teusner
Region: Barossa Valley
Variety: Shiraz
Vintage: 2006
Your Wine Guy says:
The Astral Riebke FG is sourced from an incredible block of 130 year old vines that a regularly selected for use in Grange. Teusner are blessed with a wealth of concentrated old vine fruit parcels which are very powerfully displayed here. In the glass it is a dark inky colour, a mass of complex aromas greet the nose with intense liquorice, blackberry jam vanilla and very well integrated toasty oak. The palate is fantastic and full-bodied, rich with blackberry, plum, mocha and classic Shiraz spice. Outstanding example of old vine fruit concentration. Quite a hefty price tag, but the Astral Riebke FG Shiraz delivers a mass of flavour for the money
97 Points YWG Drink to 2032+
Critics say:
“Deep purple-crimson; an exceptional wine from a great vintage, both bouquet and palate with a wonderful array of black fruits and bitter chocolate supported by quality oak and ripe tannins; no hint of dead fruit or alcohol here. Dreadnought bottle. Cork.”
95 Points Drink to 2039 James Halliday’s Wine Companion
“Oh crikey. This redefines Teusner. It’s a hulking wine without being sweet, it’s tannic and dry without losing balance, it’s warm and porty without seeming over the top. Chocolate, earth, coffee grounds, menthol, blackberry and wisps of smoky cedar wood. Power, substance and length. Potential classic.”
96 Points Drink 2013-2025 Campbell Mattinson The Wine Front
"I wonder what FG stands for? Anyway, here’s a wine that I admire for its quality. Much like chocolate mud cake, one small slice is often enough...well maybe just a tiny slither more might be nice… “Say, have you finished with that?”
Surprisingly fresh fruited with a mix of berries, a touch of mint and menthol, chocolate liqueur and coffee cake. It’s ultra smooth and luscious - a real liquid silk wine - but also amazingly fresh and dynamic with no alcohol heat showing. You can drink it now if you’re in the mood for decadence, but the score is for five or six years down the track when it unsweetens a little and savouries up. It’s a wine that won’t die wondering regardless.”
95 Points Drink 2010-2020+ Gary Walsh The Wine Front
The winemaker says:
"Sourced from the Riebke vineyard in the Ebenezer district, this stands out firstly for its concentration - inky dark purple in the glass. When a wine carries a lofty price tag like this it needs to impress and this delivers admirably on its promise, getting deep into the heart of the Barossa's capability for producing ripe, luscious Shiraz.
As you are aware, 06 was a cracker vintage and we were lucky enough to have access to some awesome old fruit for the first time. The fruit was from the oldest block that the Riebke bros take care of (around 130 years), and has regularly made Grange and E&E, purchased by Fosters on a per hectare basis. This means that regardless of the yield they get paid the same money from a certain area of land. This system is used regularly in super premium blocks to encourage the growers to limit the yields, as they are guaranteed of stable income. There are limits, however, on maximum yields - and when these are reached fruit gradings often drop like the Aussie dollar, usually regardless of quality.
And this was certainly the case in 06. It made no sense. The block was about 2 tonnes over weight with awesome fruit, but the boys risked being paid nothing for it by the big machine. Hence it came our way. We figured at worst it would probably make Albert quality so we committed some good prices to it. As we didn’t have a defining name for the block, the barrels were simply tagged with FG Shiraz.......you’ll have to use your imagination for that one.
Teusner's Astral series began with a small batch of grenache in 2005 that they just couldn't bear to blend away, followed by a couple of barrels of Mataro and now this, the first shiraz release.” Kym Teusner
Winery Information:
Kym Teusner is one of the Barossa’s young guns but with an old world influence. Many of his peers are making massively rich and ripe reds (often at very high prices), however Kym Teusner has aimed to balance the natural power of old vine Barossa material with careful, reductive winemaking to produce wines of incredible elegance and complexity. His wines are about as close as the Barossa gets to reminding the drinker of the Southern Rhône Valley in France.
The value for money they offer is quite astounding.
Kym was lucky enough to be guided by one of Australia’s (and perhaps the world’s) best old-vine specialist Dave Powell at Torbreck wines - renowned for their extremely high quality wines using the classic Rhône varieties like Shiraz, Viognier, Grenache, Mataro that regularly fetch very high prices sourcing fruit from very old vines within the Barossa.
Teusner formed as a partnership between Kym Teusner and brother- in-law Michael Page. Teusner Wines are focused on protecting very old, low-yielding, dry-grown Barossa vines. Kym Teusner was crowned Gourmet Traveller Young Winemaker of the Year in 2007 and produces wines which encapsulate the essence of the Barossa Valley, with remarkable complexity and elegance.
“Our philosophy is to produce only exceptional, affordable wines by being very selective about the fruit that we source from old, well maintained vineyards. These vineyards reliably produce balanced, complex fruit which we guide, with minimal inputs, into wine. Our fruit sources are predominantly family and close friends, which allows us this selectivity in which fruit we vinify.” Kym Teusner
Australian wine authority and critic, James Halliday (in Halliday’s Wine Companion), has awarded Teusner Wines a 5 Red Star rating, an accolade afforded to only the top 8% of Australia’s wineries.
Halliday describes the meaning of his 5 Red Star rating as an:
“Outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity. Will have at least two wines rated at 94 points or above, and have had a five-star rating for the previous two years.”