The Burge Family Winemaking tradition first started in the late 1860s with John Burge, who migrated to South Australia from Wiltshire (UK) in 1855. By the turn of the century, production ceased and all equipment was sold by John’s son Meshach, and it wasn’t until 1928 that John’s grandson ‘Percival’ recommenced winemaking. 

This Draycott Reserve Shiraz is a selection of only the best barrels from our oldest blocks of Shiraz. Additionally, the wine is only released in the great vintages. All the fruit from the Burge Family Estate is hand-picked ensuring the fruit is in pristine condition when it reaches the winery. Time honoured, small batch winemaking techniques are employed, with wild fermentation encouraged, as well as extended time on skins. The wine was matured in a mix of new French and American hogsheads to impart complementary cedary notes and add complexity. The wine naturally clarified, so no bottling filtration was required. The wine was bottled after being in oak for 30 months.

The team’s Reserve is a barrel selection from the harvest of their oldest blocks of Barossa Shiraz, and only made in the best vintages. 2021 is categorically one of those ‘best vintages’. The oak used to mature the wine will be a mix of new French and American hogsheads and the time spent in them will be up to two and a half years. Under cork. Not surprisingly, there is a serious oak influence in this wine, but it is integrating superbly. The colour is an opaque maroon. This is a big, bold and delicious red, richly flavoured. Mocha, soy, coffee beans, dark chocolate, cassis, beefstock, licorice and axle grease. Fine acidity here, running the length, silky but rather abundant tannins and great length. This is a twenty year proposition. Date: Jan 2025; Price: $150.00; Drink 2025-2045; Rating: 98 Points; Ray Jordan; Wine Pilot

A powerful rendition; the intense bouquet shows cassis, dark chocolate, olive, toasted spice, cedar, and potpourri aromas, leading to a concentrated palate that's dense and weighty. Substantial and brooding, it's wonderfully structured with layers of fine tannins, finishing immensely long and captivating. At its best: now to 2039. Rating: 97 Points; Wine Orbit

I have to say that there have been some wonderful wines from this vintage, and this masterpiece is right up there with the best of them. It’s a limited production release and given the quality of the vintage it makes sense it has been created in this season. The low crops have created a wine of tremendous concentration and intensity, but at the same time the balance is superb. Spicy blackberry and plum with a ladling of dark syrup chocolate and subtle coffee grinds. Loving it now. Date: Jan 2025; Price: $150.00; Drink 2025-2045; Rating: 96 Points; Ken Gargett; Wine Pilot