"The 2022 Hoffmann Dallwitz Shiraz is a product of the 2022 season. In terms of conditions, it wasn't too different from 2021 that preceded it, in that it was mild and long and largely problem free. It was slightly colder at night in 2022 (which, I assume, is the reason why the wines appear to be imbued with natural-feeling acidity while also having perceivably plump/fluffy fruit). These two years gifted producers the opportunity to express their vineyards and their style in equal measure. In McKinley's experience, the season was slightly higher yielding than he was expecting: 'In January, when we could have crop thinned, it didn't look like we needed to drop any fruit. When we picked, it was obvious we could have dropped some fruit, but by then we were picking.' As McKinley was sort of waiting for favorable flavors to develop, the wine ended up being higher in alcohol than it usually is, at 15.2%. The only other vintage that reached heights like that was the warm 2008 vintage. So, this is an interesting outcome that talks about the variability of seasons, year to year.
So, to the wine. Aromatically, you get black fruit and asphalt, gravel and star anise, summer raspberry and dried herbs. On the palate, the wine is concentrated and intense; it blankets the tongue in flavor and spools out over a long, gravelly finish. It has both levity and coolness, grit and grunt, all things in equal measure. While the wine may be higher in alcohol, it doesn't feel it, and the characters that the "later" picking imbued in the fruit are evident to see in the final wine. After all things, it is balanced and fine. Sealed under cork and wax."
- Erin Larkin