Hayes Family Estate Shiraz Block 9 2021
Hayes Family Estate Shiraz Block 9 2021
Hayes Family Wines is a small, family-owned producer based in Stone Well, on the Western Ridge of the Barossa Valley. Founded by Brett Hayes and helmed by winemaker Andrew Seppelt — a Barossa veteran with over 25 years' experience, including a stint as GM and winemaker at Torbreck — the label is built on old, dry-grown vineyards farmed with minimal intervention, letting each site and vintage speak for itself. The Estate Vineyard is Certified Organic and Certified Sustainable, and Hayes has carried a five-star rating in the James Halliday Wine Companion every year since launching.
A 100% old-vine Shiraz grown on the Certified Organic home vineyard in Stone Well, Western Barossa Valley. Block 9 is a special Shiraz block, planted in the 1940s from Penfolds cuttings — 75-year-old vines, mid-slope and south-facing. Protected from the harsh western sun by its east-west row orientation, and dry-grown for much of its life. The soils here are thin, the conditions genuinely tough — shallow gravelly loam over white clay and hard lime — and the vines naturally crop very low as a result. Matured for 24 months in a mix of new and second-use French oak hogsheads, then bottled unfined and unfiltered. Just 125 cases were made.
The wine carries all the hallmarks of the Stone Well area — dense fruit balanced by abundant natural tannin — with a slightly bolder fruit profile than its fellow single-block siblings from the estate. A wine built to cellar exceptionally well in the right conditions.
Crafted by winemaker Andrew Seppelt (also known for his work at Torbreck), this release earned real recognition on the world stage: 97 points from James Suckling, placing it on Suckling's list as the #21 Australian Wine of the Year, and tying it with Penfolds' Bin 978 RWT — a wine that typically retails well over $150. Suckling's Master of Wine, Ned Goodwin, called Hayes Family Wines "an extremely exciting producer." An inky, dense and supple Shiraz that competes with Australia's very best, at a fraction of the price you'd expect.