Standish
The development of Dan Standish’s Barossa winery has been awe-inspiring in the last few years. Although the small winery has yet to develop an international following like Penfolds, Clarendon Hills or Torbreck, this is only because Standish is a boutique winery making small quantities of wine that are not widely exported. Producing wines of premium quality that are every bit their equal, Standish’s Shiraz are fantastic value as compared to other top Australian wineries.
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 96-98 (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€785.54 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (96-98)Mint, sage and thyme accent blackberry and black cherry fruit in the 2018 The Schubert Theorem Shiraz. Full-bodied and rich without being heavy, it finishes tremendously long, with silky, cocoa-powder-like tannins. It should drink well for a couple of decades. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 99 (JS) |
Inc. TAX
€568.34 |
|||||
James Suckling (99)Unbelievable! Another insane wine. The length of this is endless. The blue fruits and Asian spices are mind-blowing. It’s medium- to full-bodied with a mouth full of polished and refined, creamy tannins. It goes on for minutes. Endless. Seamless and gorgeous. Leave this for years ahead if you can keep your hands off it. Better after 2025. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 6 | 98+ (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€722.29 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98+)I'm excited to taste this, as it was my favorite cuvée last year. It usually changes year to year, given the seasons, and I like that. It's usually the only cuvée to enjoy the benefits of an alternate vessel—a concrete egg—and this year, the 2022 The Schubert Theorem Shiraz joins the Relic and the Standish as well. The impact of the egg in this wine is one of refinement, or so I see it; it retains a purity of fruit at the core, which speaks to the chalky tannins that spool through the finish. They're chewy and seductive and really great. It's a beautiful release—not shimmering like the 2021, but textural and fine and elongated in its way. It's a beguiling wine, a thinking wine. And, as with the other wines tasted alongside, the bottle that has been open for two days is infinitely more complete; however, it must be noted that this review is built on the freshly opened bottle. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 2 | 90 (VN) |
Inc. TAX
€602.14 |
|||||
Vinous (90)(aged for 30 months in three-year-old French oak; this fruit at one point was allegedly purchased by Penfolds for its Grange bottling) Full ruby. Porty, superripe aromas of black cherry, crushed blackberry and gunflint. Fat, sweet, superripe and highly concentrated, with liqueur-like flavors of black fruits, dark chocolate and nuts. Not quite thick but its port-like ripeness will be a bit extreme for some tasters. Fans of this style will love it. (Epicurean Wines, Seattle WA |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 98-100 (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€150.84 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98-100)The 2018 The Standish Shiraz (a sample blend from barrel) is a bit stalky (it's about 50% whole cluster), but it's gorgeously perfumed, with hints of herbal tea, raspberries, blackberries and licorice. It just exudes complexity, while also being full-bodied, plush and creamy, with a long, elegant finish. This seamless beauty is a candidate for perfection. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 98-100 (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€673.43 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98-100)The 2018 The Standish Shiraz (a sample blend from barrel) is a bit stalky (it's about 50% whole cluster), but it's gorgeously perfumed, with hints of herbal tea, raspberries, blackberries and licorice. It just exudes complexity, while also being full-bodied, plush and creamy, with a long, elegant finish. This seamless beauty is a candidate for perfection. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 2 | 98 (JS) |
Inc. TAX
€565.94 |
|||||
James Suckling (98)Such concentrated blueberry and cherry aromas, as well as violets and fresh-earth aromas. This delivers an immediate sense of richness with chocolate in the mix, too. Very pure. The palate has a very resolved feel with deep, essence-like fruit flavors that hold a rich, plum and blackberry line that drives long and very even. This is really something. Drink over the next decade. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 96 (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€568.34 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (96)The 2020 The Standish Shiraz was made with fruit from the Laycock family vineyard, in Greenock. The first vintage was 1999. This vintage saw 30% whole bunches in the ferment. It offers notes of red dirt, a bit of blood, salted heirloom tomato and satsuma plum. This is concentrated, compacted, plush, dense and muscular, with notes of ras el’hanout, allspice, torched cinnamon and salted Dutch licorice. This wine is like playing "Magic Eye." There’s a lot going on, but if you relax, a pattern emerges and the detail becomes obvious for all to see. Within the fine but plushly tannic frame, there is saltbush and bay leaf, exotic spice and cascading layers of berry fruits. The dirt in which the roots are entangled similarly shows its colors—and these are red, ochre, earth and dust. At first glance, the foolish and the rash will overlook this for being singularly muscular and full-bodied, but like all the best IYKYK (if you know, you know—wink wink) scenarios, there is far more than meets the palate here. Another blockbuster Standish. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 6 | 98 (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€720.41 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98)The 2022 The Standish Shiraz is again providing me with the opportunity to assess bottles two days apart, and how different they are. The freshly opened bottle, as we would all experience upon our first opening, is tight and fresh, with cracked fennel seed, black peppercorns, cumin and ras el'hanout, then dried blueberries and licorice, hints of arnica and raspberry. It's cool and mineral, with a graphite finish. I cannot overstate how much better the wine tastes after two days. All of the edges smooth out, and it is composed and complete ... what a wine. Balance and harmony in a single swoop. It's savory, though. Super. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 99 (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€571.94 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (99)The 2020 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier is made with fruit from the Hongell family vineyard in Krondorf, with 15% to 20% whole bunches in the ferment and 1% Viognier skins co-fermented. This is the best I’ve seen it. There’s something about the combination of the hot year and the diminished yields—it has recoiled and recompressed the Viognier on top of and into the Shiraz and brought them into balance/harmony. Beneath its floral and stone fruit guiles is a pool of savory, muscular, red-dirt Shiraz. There is bacon fat and pure berry fruit and spice for days… I’ve recently looked at a previous vintage of this wine alongside an older but immaculate Chateau d’Ampuis, and while their origins were clear in the glass, the Relic proved an Australian perspective more than relevant. The balance between the varieties—and the classic push/pull of sweet and savory—is more harmonious this year than in any I can remember, and the only thing I am more excited about when I consider this wine is what I will say next year, through the lens of an excellent, cool and elegant year. What a fine pair they will make. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 98+ (WA) |
Inc. TAX
€586.34 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98+)The 2022 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier contains 2% Viognier skins, and this addition presents in this vintage as a core of raspberry and pomegranate. It is pure fruited and powerfully aromatic, as this cuvee always is. Interestingly, I am tasting this wine from two different glasses: one opened two days ago, one opened this morning. They are quite different, telling us once again that oxygen really is a friend to this producer, especially if choosing to drink these wines young. While the bottle opened two days ago is complete, balanced and utterly refined, it speaks more of its florals and fruit than it does its savory register of spice and complexity. However, the wine opened today has nuances of bacon fat and exotic spice. It is tightly coiled and springy and nowhere near as giving as the former. So, choose your own path. This vintage is a prettier, finer but no less long or coiled version of itself, and it will prove to be one of the greats in the cellar. The tannins certainly are a highlight for me. Built for age but also, in the framework of this beautiful season, absolutely available to you right now. An effortless beauty, here. |
|||||||||
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 96-98 (WA) |
In Bond
€631.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (96-98)Mint, sage and thyme accent blackberry and black cherry fruit in the 2018 The Schubert Theorem Shiraz. Full-bodied and rich without being heavy, it finishes tremendously long, with silky, cocoa-powder-like tannins. It should drink well for a couple of decades. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 99 (JS) |
In Bond
€450.00 |
|||||
James Suckling (99)Unbelievable! Another insane wine. The length of this is endless. The blue fruits and Asian spices are mind-blowing. It’s medium- to full-bodied with a mouth full of polished and refined, creamy tannins. It goes on for minutes. Endless. Seamless and gorgeous. Leave this for years ahead if you can keep your hands off it. Better after 2025. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 6 | 98+ (WA) |
In Bond
€578.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98+)I'm excited to taste this, as it was my favorite cuvée last year. It usually changes year to year, given the seasons, and I like that. It's usually the only cuvée to enjoy the benefits of an alternate vessel—a concrete egg—and this year, the 2022 The Schubert Theorem Shiraz joins the Relic and the Standish as well. The impact of the egg in this wine is one of refinement, or so I see it; it retains a purity of fruit at the core, which speaks to the chalky tannins that spool through the finish. They're chewy and seductive and really great. It's a beautiful release—not shimmering like the 2021, but textural and fine and elongated in its way. It's a beguiling wine, a thinking wine. And, as with the other wines tasted alongside, the bottle that has been open for two days is infinitely more complete; however, it must be noted that this review is built on the freshly opened bottle. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 2 | 90 (VN) |
In Bond
€478.00 |
|||||
Vinous (90)(aged for 30 months in three-year-old French oak; this fruit at one point was allegedly purchased by Penfolds for its Grange bottling) Full ruby. Porty, superripe aromas of black cherry, crushed blackberry and gunflint. Fat, sweet, superripe and highly concentrated, with liqueur-like flavors of black fruits, dark chocolate and nuts. Not quite thick but its port-like ripeness will be a bit extreme for some tasters. Fans of this style will love it. (Epicurean Wines, Seattle WA |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 98-100 (WA) |
In Bond
€122.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98-100)The 2018 The Standish Shiraz (a sample blend from barrel) is a bit stalky (it's about 50% whole cluster), but it's gorgeously perfumed, with hints of herbal tea, raspberries, blackberries and licorice. It just exudes complexity, while also being full-bodied, plush and creamy, with a long, elegant finish. This seamless beauty is a candidate for perfection. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 98-100 (WA) |
In Bond
€539.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98-100)The 2018 The Standish Shiraz (a sample blend from barrel) is a bit stalky (it's about 50% whole cluster), but it's gorgeously perfumed, with hints of herbal tea, raspberries, blackberries and licorice. It just exudes complexity, while also being full-bodied, plush and creamy, with a long, elegant finish. This seamless beauty is a candidate for perfection. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 2 | 98 (JS) |
In Bond
€448.00 |
|||||
James Suckling (98)Such concentrated blueberry and cherry aromas, as well as violets and fresh-earth aromas. This delivers an immediate sense of richness with chocolate in the mix, too. Very pure. The palate has a very resolved feel with deep, essence-like fruit flavors that hold a rich, plum and blackberry line that drives long and very even. This is really something. Drink over the next decade. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 96 (WA) |
In Bond
€450.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (96)The 2020 The Standish Shiraz was made with fruit from the Laycock family vineyard, in Greenock. The first vintage was 1999. This vintage saw 30% whole bunches in the ferment. It offers notes of red dirt, a bit of blood, salted heirloom tomato and satsuma plum. This is concentrated, compacted, plush, dense and muscular, with notes of ras el’hanout, allspice, torched cinnamon and salted Dutch licorice. This wine is like playing "Magic Eye." There’s a lot going on, but if you relax, a pattern emerges and the detail becomes obvious for all to see. Within the fine but plushly tannic frame, there is saltbush and bay leaf, exotic spice and cascading layers of berry fruits. The dirt in which the roots are entangled similarly shows its colors—and these are red, ochre, earth and dust. At first glance, the foolish and the rash will overlook this for being singularly muscular and full-bodied, but like all the best IYKYK (if you know, you know—wink wink) scenarios, there is far more than meets the palate here. Another blockbuster Standish. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 6 | 98 (WA) |
In Bond
€578.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98)The 2022 The Standish Shiraz is again providing me with the opportunity to assess bottles two days apart, and how different they are. The freshly opened bottle, as we would all experience upon our first opening, is tight and fresh, with cracked fennel seed, black peppercorns, cumin and ras el'hanout, then dried blueberries and licorice, hints of arnica and raspberry. It's cool and mineral, with a graphite finish. I cannot overstate how much better the wine tastes after two days. All of the edges smooth out, and it is composed and complete ... what a wine. Balance and harmony in a single swoop. It's savory, though. Super. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 99 (WA) |
In Bond
€453.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (99)The 2020 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier is made with fruit from the Hongell family vineyard in Krondorf, with 15% to 20% whole bunches in the ferment and 1% Viognier skins co-fermented. This is the best I’ve seen it. There’s something about the combination of the hot year and the diminished yields—it has recoiled and recompressed the Viognier on top of and into the Shiraz and brought them into balance/harmony. Beneath its floral and stone fruit guiles is a pool of savory, muscular, red-dirt Shiraz. There is bacon fat and pure berry fruit and spice for days… I’ve recently looked at a previous vintage of this wine alongside an older but immaculate Chateau d’Ampuis, and while their origins were clear in the glass, the Relic proved an Australian perspective more than relevant. The balance between the varieties—and the classic push/pull of sweet and savory—is more harmonious this year than in any I can remember, and the only thing I am more excited about when I consider this wine is what I will say next year, through the lens of an excellent, cool and elegant year. What a fine pair they will make. |
|||||||||
|
|
South Australia | 1 | 98+ (WA) |
In Bond
€465.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98+)The 2022 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier contains 2% Viognier skins, and this addition presents in this vintage as a core of raspberry and pomegranate. It is pure fruited and powerfully aromatic, as this cuvee always is. Interestingly, I am tasting this wine from two different glasses: one opened two days ago, one opened this morning. They are quite different, telling us once again that oxygen really is a friend to this producer, especially if choosing to drink these wines young. While the bottle opened two days ago is complete, balanced and utterly refined, it speaks more of its florals and fruit than it does its savory register of spice and complexity. However, the wine opened today has nuances of bacon fat and exotic spice. It is tightly coiled and springy and nowhere near as giving as the former. So, choose your own path. This vintage is a prettier, finer but no less long or coiled version of itself, and it will prove to be one of the greats in the cellar. The tannins certainly are a highlight for me. Built for age but also, in the framework of this beautiful season, absolutely available to you right now. An effortless beauty, here. |
|||||||||

