In this pack, you’ll receive three bottles of the 2017 vintage and one bottle each of the 2016, 2010 and 2009 vintages.
This is the flagship wine from John Duval. The Eligo is a reserve Barossa Shiraz made from the best fruit from low yielding parcels and only released from the best Barossa vintages.
The Eligo is made to show the bridled power of the Barossa, not a wild beast of a wine. The sole use of French oak nixes any notion back any wanton or gauche American lumber. Precise and elegant yet still show deep near elemental power. This is the best wine produced by one of the consistently best winemakers in the Barossa thus one of the best Shiraz masters in the world.
John Duval is a master blender. This is all about the best of the vintage, fruit from various sites across the Barossa and Eden Valleys, to morph into the mighty Eligo. A powerhouse of flavour yet never loses focus. Dark plums infused with star anise, cinnamon, Dutch licorice and soy sauce. Full-bodied with velvety rich tannins. It gets the most oak - French hogsheads 54% new, aged 18 months, and needs time to settle in. It will.
97 points, Wine Companion (January 2020)
Coffee grounds and black berries, peppermint and peppercorns, licorice and malted milk. It’s a substantial red wine, mouth filling in the true sense of the words and yet balanced, finessed and stitched appropriately with fine-grained tannin. Nothing is out of place; this river is both sheer and deep.
95 points, The Wine Front (April 2020)
Deep, dark red/purple colour, with a rich, ripe, dark plum aroma. The palate is intense and rich, fleshy and strongly structure, but approachable now. Discreet spices, black licorice hints and smoky charred oak. It has the muscle to age superbly.
95 points, The Real Review (March 2020)
Eligo is made from the best parcels of the vintage, fermented with submerged caps in small open fermenters, matured for 20 months in French hogsheads (50% new). The tannins and oak are built into the wine like an inlaid checkerboard table created by a master craftsman with decades of experience. Like John Duval.
98 points, Wine Companion (February 2019)
An outstanding colour with deep red hues. Dense and rich with subtle sweet oak tones. Hints of clove, liquorice, chocolate and plum liqueur. Remarkably deep, plush and dense, yet still lively and perfectly supple. With wines such as this, John Duval asserts himself as a master of shiraz. Full-bodied and luscious. An Australian classic.
96 points, The Real Review (May 2019)
It wraps its arms around you. And holds you tight. It’s a dark, substantial red, chocolatey, blackberried, licorice-y, wafted with iodine, gently coffeed. Tannin has its own motor; it churns away in the background, its wake trailing behind. This has ‘cellarworthy’ written all over it.
95 points, The Wine Front (August 2019)
Deep, dark red colour with a slight purple tinge. Sweet vanilla chocolate and black fruit aromas, sweetly ripe and not overstated. Full-bodied, fairly oaky, deep and dense, with richness and density, some opulence and lush sweet fruit backed by ample tannins. Well structured wine, deep and concentrated. Long finish, too. It promises more if cellared.
95 points, The Real Review (July 2013)
Deep colour, with essency black fruits, savoury roasted meat aromas and fragrant wood spices all evident on the bouquet; the palate is full bodied and muscular with prodigious tannins lying in waiting beneath the succulent black fruits on offer; long, precise, complex and expansive to conclude.
95 points, Wine Companion (February 2013)
This is the very essence of old vine Barossa shiraz, made with generosity and warmth as a core value; masses of sweet black fruits, bitter chocolate, graphite tannins and toasty oak combine to deliver a silky mouthful of tannins and plenty of warmth of alcohol; concentration kept in check, and exceptionally long.
95 points, Wine Companion (January 2012)
Colonel William Light, the South Australian colony’s Surveyor-General, named the Barossa in 1837 after the site of an English victory over the French in the Spanish Peninsular War. In the mid-1800’s Silesian and English immigrants settled in the area. The Barossa itself comprises two distinct sub-regions: Eden Valley and the warmer Barossa Valley floor at 270m.The Barossa Valley enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate characterised by hot dry summers and relatively low rainfall. Cool sea breezes from the Gulf of St Vincent modify the temperature, however hot northerly winds can occasionally dominate creating considerable vine stress. Many older established vineyards are dry-grown, but supplementary irrigation is also extensively used. The valley is comprised of rich brown soils and alluvial sands. A long history of uninterrupted viticulture in the area means the Barossa valley is home to Australia’s largest concentration of old-vine Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre with many over 100 years old. Although most famous for Shiraz, the Barossa can also produce fragrant and deliciously fruity Grenache blends and beautifully rich, chocolatey Cabernet Sauvignons.
Langton’s Selections John Duval Plexus Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre, John Duval Entity Shiraz, John Duval Eligo Shiraz John Duval is one of the more famous contemporary names in Australian wine. For many years he was chief winemaker at Penfolds and responsible for the production of Grange, arguably Australia’s top wine. After 29 years working alongside Max Schubert and Don Ditter and ultimately leading the entire Penfolds winemaking team, Duval stepped outside corporate life to start his own winemaking business. At first he started consulting in Europe, Chile (Pangea) and Australia (Songlines). He is also vintner partner in the Long Shadows venture in Washington State in the USA. For four months each year, Duval makes sure he is back in the Barossa to make his own wines. He produces three wines: the compelling and beautifully scented Plexus, a Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache blend aged in older oak to retain its fruit integrity. The Entity and Eligo are both top notch, gorgeously seductive Barossa Shirazes. These wines are far removed from Grange. Indeed John Duval has said many times that producing a “son of Grange” would be seen by many as “arrogant “. His developmental work with Penfolds RWT, the first Penfolds single region Barossa wine for several decades, was really the precursor to John Duval’s own Barossa Shirazes. These are elegant wines with beautifully black chocolate/ herb garden aromas and fine grained but lacy tannin structures. The fruit driven and plushly structured Entity is aged in 30% new French barriques. The Eligo is a Grand Vin type wine based on the best parcels of fruit. The selection process for this wine starts in grower’s vineyards and right through vinification and maturation. The first vintages show an extraordinary handle on fruit, oak and tannin management. There is a smoothness of flavour and texture. None of the elements are out of line. While the Eligo is matured in 60% new French oak, the weight of the fruit and overall balance barely makes it noticeable. This is definitely a wine that will benefit from age. Not surprisingly the international media has fully embraced the wines. They are completely consistent with Duval’s long term career at Penfolds, yet move away from the choco-berry characters associated with Grange and the Penfolds stable. The wines have great integrity and form. While it is still early days for the incredibly modest, impeccably credentialed and charming John Duval, all the stars are in alignment for this emerging producer. This is definitely a producer to follow. Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's
