Twelftree 2010 Shiraz Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale

The Wine

I was curious to know if our small stash of 2010 Twelftree Shiraz was still any good, let alone worth its hefty bottle price. So I popped a cork with our critical Farmstead crew and we were a bit stunned by its presence. Just maybe, the wine is on the downhill side of its peak, but still showing beautiful bottle bouquet and a rare chance to see how Shiraz can age when finished under screwcap. The wine still emitted life and light and pleasure. Now 15 years of age, the wine has been perfectly preserved under a screwcap with a seal that leeches oxygen at the same rate as a cork - critical to the long aging of fine reds.

An this is something where Australian winemakers have excelled. They've been doing longitudinal studies for decades, tests that compare the aging of fine wines under screwcap vs cork, and their findings are consistently more favorable as screwcap as the more ideal closure. Now all they have to do is overcome the screwcap bias in the US (thank you, Thunderbird!) In countries where cork taint has been ruinously expensive (Austria, New Zealand, Germany, Australia....) and which had no Thunderbird precedent, the screwcap is the only closure you will see these days. In these countries, cork salespeople need government subsidies to survive.  

The Winery

This is the premium offering from Two Hands Winery, an idea born in 1999 between two friends, Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz. Though Mintz is no longer involved in the winery, the duo behind the Twelftree brand are also two old friends known as "The Odd Couple":

David Lloyd: Science boffin, tennis tragic, tesla driver, 'vintaged' winemaker

Michael Twelftree: Brand builder, Toyota driver, amateur cray fisherman, thoroughbred lover. 

Both are passionate dog lovers and have been the dearest of friends for over 30 years.

And both are committed to the sustainability and biodiversity of their enterprise, employing the long-haired Scottish Highland Cattle to charm guests but also to create over 300 pounds of 'organic material' to be used in vineyard preparations.