2016 Giaconda Estate Shiraz
Lifted, enticing and highly satisfying. A genial welcoming impact of lifted red to darker fruits laced with notes of clove, musk, and baked beetroot, underscored by a beguiling graphite minerality. A generous, rich and rounded palate. This has volume, showing seductive red plum fruit with a spicy edge underpinned by moreish powder fine tannins, voluptuous and silky on one level, savoury and mineral on another...winemakers notes.
Gourmet Traveller 96 Points! "A top shiraz, which comines the peppery spiciness of cool climate with full, opulet ripeness. Chocolate, spices and smoky charcuterie nuances. Lovely mid-palate fruit sweetness, some undergrowth-like bunchy nuances adding...
An elegant and redder-fruited edition from 2016. This has some very sappy and foresty aromas with dried leaves, wild herbs, wild flowers and an array of spices and pepper-dusted red berries. The palate has a smooth web of gently grainy tannins, holding long into the finish. Bright and sweet red plums and cherries abound. Give this some time and try from 2022.
95 points
JamesSuckling.com
Giaconda vineyard was established by Rick Kinzbrunner, a mechanical engineer who became interested in wine in the early 1970's. Rick then spent the next ten years working in the industry, travelling and following his passion for wine. After a brief stint in New Zealand, he studied at Davis University in California and worked at some of the most respected wineries in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys (namely Stag's Leap, Simi and Matanzas Creek). In Europe he worked for the Moueix group in Bordeaux, co-owner of the fabled Chateau Petrus.
After returning to Australia in 1980 to take up a position as assistant winemaker at Brown Brothers in Milawa, Rick purchased land in the nearby Beechworth wine region - at the foothills of the beautiful North-East Victorian Alps. Planting commenced in 1982 and the property is now devoted solely to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. A separate planting of Nebbiolo has also been established close to the Beechworth township at Red Hill. Total area under vines at the Giaconda Estate Vineyard is now 4 hectares. Annual wine production is approximately 2,500 dozen bottles.
Rick’s son Nathan Kinzbrunner works full time at Giaconda and has done so since the 2007 vintage. His responsibilities include Assistant Winemaker and General Business Manager. Nathan also owns and manages a single hectare planting of Nebbiolo located at 'Red Hill' in Beechworth which produces fruit made under the Giaconda label.