John Duval
Entity Shiraz
Barossa Valley
2012

The producer

John Duval Wines is a boutique winery located in the Barossa Valley wine region of South Australia. The winery was founded by John Duval, who is widely regarded as one of the best winemakers in Australia. Duval was the chief winemaker for Penfolds Wines for 29 years and was responsible for producing some of the most famous wines in Australia, including Penfolds Grange.

After leaving Penfolds in 2002, Duval established his own winery with a focus on producing small quantities of high-quality wines. The winery produces a range of wines, including Shiraz, Grenache, and a Shiraz/Grenache blend, as well as a white Rhone-style blend. The wines are made using traditional winemaking techniques, with a focus on showcasing the unique terroir of the Barossa Valley.

John Duval Wines has received numerous awards and accolades over the years, including being named "Winery of the Year" by James Halliday's Wine Companion in 2011 (Australia). Two of Duval’s wines were award Wine of The Year by Wine Spectator in the United States. The wines are highly sought after by collectors and wine enthusiasts around the world. We have selected three of their wines for offer.

The wine

One of the flagship wines of John Duval Wines is the "Entity" Shiraz, which is made from grapes sourced from old vineyards in the Barossa Valley. The wine is known for its complexity, balance, and aging potential.

The wine is named after the concept of "entity" – the idea that the wine should express the unique characteristics of the vineyard and vintage in which it was produced. John Duval believes that a great wine should have a sense of place, and that the terroir should be the driving force behind the wine's character and flavor.

John Duval Entity Shiraz is made using traditional winemaking techniques, including open-top fermentation and aging in French oak barrels. The wine is known for its deep, dark color, intense aromas of dark fruit, spice, and vanilla, and rich, full-bodied flavors of blackberry, plum, and chocolate. The wine has a firm tannin structure and a long, persistent finish.

John Duval Entity Shiraz has received numerous accolades and awards over the years, including being named "Wine of the Year" by Wine Spectator magazine in 2010. The wine is highly sought after by collectors and wine enthusiasts around the world, and it has a great aging potential – it can be cellared for up to 20 years or more.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.