Ben Glaetzer Amon-Ra Shiraz 2022

Few Australian wines wear their ambition quite as confidently as Ben Glaetzer’s Amon-Ra Shiraz. Born in the northern Barossa Valley, this is a wine built around the remarkable old Shiraz vineyards of Ebenezer, where vines between 50 and 130 years old produce fruit of extraordinary concentration, depth and character. The Glaetzer family has been part of Barossa winemaking since 1888, and Ben represents the modern generation: fiercely Barossan in his understanding of place, but unwilling to let tradition become an excuse for making heavy, ponderous wine.

Origins

Amon-Ra takes its name from the Egyptian king of the gods, an appropriately grand title for a Shiraz that has become something of an Australian icon. Yet beneath the mythology is remarkably meticulous winemaking. Ben’s philosophy is to capture the intensity naturally present in the old vine fruit while bringing precision, structure and elegance to the finished wine. The wine spends around 16 months in predominantly new French oak, with a small proportion of American oak, but the wood is used as much for texture and tannin as for flavour. The aim is not to disguise the fruit, but to give it greater shape and longevity.

Tasting

In the glass, Amon-Ra is unapologetically dark and powerful. Aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant and dark plum mingle with espresso, liquorice, dark chocolate and subtle savoury notes. The palate is rich and concentrated, yet remarkably composed, with velvety tannins providing the architecture beneath the fruit. There is warmth and generosity, but also a sense of restraint that keeps the wine from becoming merely massive. It finishes long, persistent and savoury, leaving the impression of a wine that has plenty more to reveal with time.

Awards and Accolades

Its reputation has been built over decades of critical acclaim, including repeated scores in the mid to high 90s from leading international critics. The 2018 vintage was particularly celebrated, earning 98 points from Robert Parker Wine Advocate and 95 from James Halliday. Amon-Ra has also earned a place in Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine, further cementing its status among the country’s serious fine wine producers.

This is Barossa Shiraz with the volume turned up but with the dials carefully controlled. Amon-Ra is powerful, hedonistic and unmistakably Australian, yet its greatest achievement is that all that power comes with poise. It is a wine made to command attention today and reward patience tomorrow, a bottle that demonstrates exactly why the Barossa remains one of the world’s great homes for Shiraz.