Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Shiraz 2018
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Suckling
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Deep red with a purple hue. Aromas of black accent fruits like blackberry, juniper, charcutierie and notes of coal dust and aromatic black pepper. Medium to full bodied in weight. Saturates the palate like only a Barossa Shiraz can. Plenty of bounce and energy across the palate with aromatic notes of dried flower, black peppercorns and a good dose of Barossa preserved meats.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has attractive spice and fragrance. Really complex and packed with dark plums and blackberries. The texture is silky with precisely defined tannins. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Gnarly Dudes is also terrific, offering a ripe, medium to full-bodied style that has notable freshness and purity in its blue fruits, spice, eucalyptus, and minty aromas and flavors. Beautifully balanced and downright silky on the palate, count me impressed. Drink it any time over the coming 7-8 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Lovely mixed berry notes appear on the nose of the 2018 Gnarly Dudes Shiraz. It's a prototypical Barossa Shiraz made with modern sensibilities, marrying subtle hints of French oak with bold fruit. Hints of mint and licorice add interest, while the full-bodied palate is ripe and creamy without going over the top.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and appealing, offering a fresh mix of blueberry, cherry and framboise flavors on a smooth, velvety and spicy frame. Matcha green tea and Szechuan peppercorn details linger. Drink now through 2032.
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The idea for Two Hands was born in September 1999 when founders Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz sat at a friend’s engagement party and decided it was time to make their own wine and market it on the world stage.
The original aim was, and still is, to make the best possible Shiraz-based wines from prized growing regions throughout Australia. With so much Australian wine being sold around the globe under multi-region labels in a formulaic style, the intention was to break the mold and showcase the diversity of Australian Shiraz by highlighting regional and vineyard characteristics by allowing the fruit to be the primary feature of the wines.
Quality without compromise is central to the Two Hands philosophy, driving all the decisions from fruit and oak selection to packaging and promotion. From the outset, Two Hands set out to be unique and innovative, this approach is reflected in everything from the names of the wines through to, not least, the wines themselves. From small beginnings, the winery has been able to manage its growth organically whilst maintaining an absolute quality focus. Premium fruit is sourced from the finest Shiraz growing regions in Australia, and Two Hands works closely with its estate vineyards and band of growers to ensure the full potential of each vineyard is reached. They handle every parcel of fruit, however small, separately from crushing through to fermentation and oak maturation to ensure complexity and personality in the finished wines.
In its simplest form, it could be said that they squeeze the grapes and put them in a bottle. However, in practice there are many different steps and countless hours involved, from vineyard, through to winemaking, tasting, blending and maturation in order to make consistent, quality wines.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.