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Buy OnlineWinery notes (2021 Vintage)
"Whilst Shiraz might be the poster boy for the Barossa, we believe blending it with Grenache and Mataro produces the best drinking wines from this region. Thanks to our good mates the Riebke brothers and other Barossa growers whose families have stuck by these varieties for the past 100 years or more, we’re privileged to have fruit from very old vines to make our GMS blends.
In 2002, our first vintage, we made one wine… an unoaked GMS blend we called Joshua. With that wine selling out quickly, we decided to have a crack at releasing a second wine from the vintage, a different take on the original blend and aged in seasoned oak for 12 months. Loosely interpreted, Avatar can mean ‘transformation’…so a pretty good moniker for a wine we fondly refer to as the older brother for our Josh’.
The blend percentages for Avatar might change each vintage, but the recipe doesn’t vary much… the 2021 vintage blends 50% Grenache for spice and bright red fruits, 30% Mataro for some savoury earthiness and depth and 20% Shiraz for plump plum and rich black fruit. The time in oak… and the choice of old seasoned oak…ensures it serves only as a seasoning to add complexity and savoury nuance. With vines this old, we want the fruit and earth to speak with the clearest voice."
5 Stars & 95/100 Aaron Brasher, The Real Review (2021 Vintage)
"I’ve long admired the fabulous wines of Teusner over the last 20 years and have always marvelled at the quality and value of their wines, as well as their brightness, purity, absolute drinkability and their distinct sense of place.
This is deep, dark and youthful in the glass. Beautifully fragrant and lifted aromas of dried herbs, sweet spice, blackberry, plum, dark cherry and potpourri. Fleshy, youthful and bright on the palate, it has a lovely core of crunchy blue/black fruits, spice, vanilla and cola. Lively acidity and firm, round, textured tannins bring cut and mouth-feel. This is delicious and delivers big time."
93/100 Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, March 2023 (2021 Vintage)
"Avatar is one of the original Teusner wines; it’s a blend of grenache, mataro and shiraz. This is a meaty release. Smoky almost. It’s all earth and cloves, twigs and roasted spices, though all these notes are carried on a generous core of sweet/ripe redcurrant and asphalt-like fruit flavour. Tannin is fine and has been finessed into the fruit; it’s one of those wines that feels massaged into perfect position. It’s also one of those wines that’s pretty much always good, and it is again here."
