Immensely complex and powerful, this wine is from classic old vine Shiraz from the Barossa. Dense, concentrated fruit characters of blackberry and ripe plum are knotted around delicious vanillin oak.

"Replacing the Petit Chapelle cuvee and first made in 2015, the 2016 Hermitage La Maison Bleue is smoking good. Black fruits, charcoal, powdered rock, currants and chocolate notes all give way to a big, concentrated, impressively structures barrel sample that has tons of potential. I expect the tannin will have integrated by the time this is released, but a few years of bottle age still recommended." - Jeb Dunnuck

The estate was started in 1955. Patrick and Christophe Bonnefond now control 65 acres in northern Rhone of which 18 acres is in Cote Rotie. Colline du Couzou comes from an assemblage of plots in the north and south of the Cote Rotie appellation. The fruit is 80% dedstemmed and consists of 95% Syrah and 5% Cinsault. The wine is aged in small barrels for 18 months.

From one of the most renowned hills the world where Syrah is grown, this wine is classic northern Rhône with its raspberry and blackberry fruit characters, combined with touches of black pepper, smoky earth and minerality. Full bodied with firm tannins, with beautifully integrated oak from 19 months in new, French oak barrels.