YALUMBA PARADOX SHIRAZ 2021

Over the past few years this has been one of our top selling $25.00+ Shiraz, seeming to suit the Kiwi palate. It’s not the high octane, lots of new oak stereotypical northern Barossa Shiraz, but rather a softer, more gentle velvet-like and savoury style of wine. It is a great combination between the sweet plummy Barossan Shiraz fruit and the brooding savoury, meaty flavours. Plush and warming on the palate. This is seriously sexy!

Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"Deep crimson red in colour. The Paradox is a vibrant, stylish and alluring wine that captivates the senses. Violets and black currant pastilles leap from the glass, beautifully layered with hints of chocolate, liquorice and nuanced spicy oak. The palate is bright and plush, featuring flavours of dark cherry and pomegranate that gracefully lead to a fine tannin finish. Matured for 16 months in French oak puncheons 10% new, balance 1 year and older barrels."

Rated Excellent & 93/100 Cameron Douglas MS, March 2025 (2021 Vintage)
"Opaque at the core, dark red and purple hued. A fantastic bouquet, nothing but Shiraz all the way through from black licorice to raspberry and blackberry pie. The use of richness from skin contact to earthiness and sweetness of oak suit each other perfectly. A core drive of sweet ripe fruit on the palate showcases the impacts of youth and concentration. Flavours mirror the bouquet from licorice to dark berries. Moderate tannins and plenty of acidity, plenty of extract and baking spice highlights. A lovely wine ready to drink from day of purchase through 2033."

Reviews for previous vintages below…

94/100 Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Real Review (2019 Vintage)
"This has a very deep purple colour of great extract. The nose shows the sort of easy complexity of old oak married to ripe shiraz fruit that makes for satisfying drinking. Plum, blackberry, licorice and lead pencil aromas lead into a mellow, satisfying mouthful. Integrated ripe tannins dry the finish. A wine of lovely aromatic presence that doesn't rely on sheer power for its impact."

4 Stars Cuisine Australian Shiraz Tasting, June 2024 (2019 Vintage)
"A rich and beguiling dark colour with just the slightest hint of fade present, this wine is retaining its youth well with dark fruits and spice on the nose. The palate shows good fruit purity with sweet flavours, soft, rounded tannins and a nice silky finish."

5 Stars & 94/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, March 2022 (2018 Vintage)
"A stylish offering filled with delectable flavours, it’s complex and fragrant with blackberry, toasted spice, cedar, a hint of cocoa and tapenade nuances, combined with a concentrated palate offering terrific fruit richness as well as seductive savoury notes, finishing persistent and velvety. At its best: now to 2032."

93/100 Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, February 2023 (2018 Vintage)
"It’s a pure-feeling shiraz but with strong DNA of the heartland. Slick texture, smooth as, choc-berry and ripe cherry characters, a reserve and elegance perhaps in all that. Scents similarly set to choc, cherry, berry, with whiffs of mint and anise. Fine tannins go flinty and smoky to finish, with gentle, gummy grip. Feels very gulpable, holds in good concentration but levity and freshness. Moreish stuff, in a quasi-traditional mould, but the sense that the wine is more an expression of fruit than seasoned or worked to a style. Likeable, very much, in that way."