2019 Mystery Barossa Shiraz Deal No. 84

97 POINTS

Sam Kim - Wine Orbit

Immensely complex and opulent, the wine shows dark fruit intensity, dark chocolate, warm spice and toasty oak characters on the nose. The concentrated palate offers outstanding depth and richly textured mouthfeel, wonderfully complemented by beautifully melded tannins, finishing impressively long and plush. Multi-layered and symphonic with loads of seductive flavours.

97 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

Okay, so here’s the thing.  Adams The Thing is a powerhouse wine of tremendous fruit concentration and depth, and yet even with 40 months – yes 40 months – in French oak hogsheads, it doesn’t appear excessively oaky. Far from it. What you get is wave after wave rolling in with dark fruits, licorice, chocolate and inky black olive. Adams has never shied away from oak, so it’s a good thing he knows how to handle it. It’s a sort of big easy.

97 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

Under cork, and a monster bottle, this is big in every way. Big bottle, big aromas on the nose, big colour and especially big flavours (and yes, a big price). So, it seems entirely appropriate that it should deserve a big score. An inky, opaque maroon here, this nose seems saturated in aromatic flavours – coffee beans, espresso, dark chocolate, black fruits, mocha, licorice, soy and cloves. Big in every way! The more time in glass, the more the chocolatey notes emerged on the nose. Rich and ripe, that chocolate dominated the palate as well – a wine that seems like molten chocolate. Fine and silky tannins, great intensity and immaculate balance, this is very, very long. Just delicious and I loved it. A twenty year proposition.

93 POINTS

Dave Brookes - Halliday Wine Companion

No wallflower this wine. 80/20% Eden Valley (East Angaston)/Barossa Valley (Ebenezer); aged for 40 months in 100% new French oak. It's a big, inky thing with gobs of blackberry, black cherry and cassis notes, plenty of cedar, oak and hints of licorice, brandied fruits, dark chocolate, earth and pan juices. With many producers chasing elegance and transparency, these sort of wines of sheer horsepower can come off as a bit anachronistic, but the style still has many fans and there's no doubting both the wine's intensity and balance.

92 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

This is a big wine. Big fruit, big oak, big tannin and big alcohol. And it comes in a big or at least a heavy bottle as well. The flavours: toast, resin, burnt cream, blackberry, bitumen, saltbush and brandy. Big ropes of tannin help to keep it all in place. Warmth of alcohol is clear throughout. If you like ’em big, this is about as big as they come.

91 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The bold, oak-driven 2019 Shiraz The Thing offers jammy, chocolate and carob aromas with a fresh, spicy lift. Black olive paste flavors dominate a full-bodied style with a firm-edged frame. It's big and best enjoyed sooner rather than later.