Ox Hardy Slate Shiraz 2021 (6x 750mL).

Expert Reviews

Fermented in the last surviving Willunga-quarried slate fermenter in the original winery, rescued in '18 after nearly a century of neglect. It’s no doubt a fine fermenter. But it’s also a statement about history, and the family’s connection to it, about a firm grounding in the Vale and the long-sighted forward embrace of the region. Raised in seasoned oak for 16 months. Blue and black berries, dark plum, kelp, iodine, salted licorice, iron and brooding dark florals. It’s a wine of site-specific reflection and soaring intensity, yet it manages all this without any heaviness or declarative winemaking. A soulful wine of place and calmly confident stewardship.

96 Points – Halliday Review

Marcus Ellis

Published 20 March 2025

Fermented in the last surviving Willunga-quarried

slate fermenter in the original winery, rescued in

‘18 after nearly a century of neglect. It’s no doubt

a fine fermenter. But it’s also a statement about

history, and the family’s connection to it, about a

firm grounding in the Vale and the long-sighted

forward embrace of the region. Raised in seasoned

oak for 16 months. Blue and black berries, dark

plum, kelp, iodine, salted licorice, iron and brooding

dark florals. It’s a wine of site-specific reflection and

soaring intensity, yet it manages all this without any

heaviness or declarative winemaking. A soulful wine

of place and calmly confident stewardship.

Marcus Ellis - 96 POINTS Halliday Review