2022 Michael Hall Stonewell Road Shiraz

Michael Hall’s Stone Well Shiraz is Barossa power with a bit of polish. Sourced from a single vineyard in the heart of the region, this is a wine that brings richness and structure without ever tipping into excess.

The 2022 vintage was a cooler, lower-yielding year, which means concentrated fruit, fine tannins, and a real sense of balance. Fermented with a mix of whole bunches and destemmed fruit, then aged in French oak for 20 months, it’s been given the time and care to show its best self.

It’s dark, brooding, and packed with character - plum, blackberries, a little spice, and something savoury lurking underneath. The tannins are firm but well-behaved, giving it shape without overwhelming the fruit. There’s a freshness here too, a lift that keeps it from feeling too heavy.

Barossa die-hards will love it, but so will anyone who appreciates Shiraz with depth and detail. It’s drinking beautifully now, but if you’ve got patience, it’ll only get better over the next decade or more.

98 points
"Wow. An especially exciting, vibrant nose of sharply defined raspberry, plum, redcurrant, and deeper tones of blackberry. Fruit purity also shapes the front palate, which is clean, lean, and beautifully poised—like a string quartet bowing a long, exquisite harmonic line. This shapes a new definition of Barossa intensity, its fruit being nimble and dextrous atop a serious, studied bedrock. It will be fascinating to see how this develops."
- David Sly (Decanter)