“A high-quality wine with a promising future” 94 Points – Andrew Graham | Oz Wine Review

2024 marks twenty years since the founding of Xavier Bizot & Lucy Croser’s Crayères Vineyard, with this close-planted plot of stubby (only a metre off the ground) Wrattonbully vines now entering prime years. It’s taken a while for the wines to hit peak form, with plenty of tinkering with blends and straight varieties along the way, but unquestionably, the wines are now in a purple patch.

Nowadays, it’s more a question of whether the Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc-based blend looks better from this plot, which usually depends on the vintage. It’s the same deal with the wines from Brian Croser’s Tapanappa vineyard across the road (although Brian has backed in the Franc as the hero). On that point, Isn’t vintage variation great? In a world of boring commodity products, wine’s ability to taste different all the time is glorious.

I like running a different path every day for the same reason – variety is the spice of life and all that jazz.

I also like this Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz 2022, especially because it captures the Limestone Coast power and grace contrast. Indeed, the only thing that’s offbeat here is my washed-out bottle shot, not that I’d change it for a boring stock photo (again, variety is the spice of life).

Anyway, this is 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Shiraz, matured for 14 months in a barrel, and for all of the 14.5% alcohol, it manages to be bright, almost joyfully red fruited before getting dark, warm, and serious. We’re talking about glacé plums, then getting into blackberry and cassis dark raspberry liqueur, and then a slightly warm but long finish. The tannins are a little bit stop-start, but ultimately, they are grainy caress as a final nod to a high-quality wine with a promising future.

Happy 20th, Crayères Vineyard!

94 points