Seppelt has pioneered Great Western sparkling shiraz since the 1890s and I have been privileged to witness the stamina of great bottles from the 1950s and 1960s. Grand longevity is the key to this style, and even on release at a decade of age (eight years of which were spent on lees) the fruit of the Seppelt Great Western vineyard itself demands a long time yet to fully blossom. 

Deep, youthful colour, dark blood-red with a faint trace of purple still hanging in after 11 years. A glorious bouquet of dried plum and cranberry, pepper/spice touches too, mellow and not 100% primary but also not showing much in the way of bottle-aged character. A glorious sparkling red, still in its early middle-age. Finishes long and satisfying without too-obvious sweetness but with velvet-smooth tannins. A classic of its genre, drinking beautifully now but there is no hurry at all. Drink: to 2037; Price: $100.00; Alcohol: 13%; Rating: 97 Points (Ranked #1); Huon Hooke; The Real Review

It's hard to imagine that Seppelt was making sparkling shiraz at its famous cellar near the town of Great Western, in the Grampians region, as far back as the 1890s, but indeed it was. Heritage doesn't come much richer, deeper, or more individual. This release is wildly complex, rich in its base fruit, satisfying and intriguing. It tastes of licorice and leather, game and citrus, sweet raspberry/plum and earth. It's bold, savoury and mellow at once; it's melancholy and joy in one. Drink to: 2033; Price: $100.00; Alcohol: 13%; Rating: 96 Points; James Halliday Wine Companion