2019 Grant Burge Balthasar Eden Valley Shiraz
The 2019 Grant Burge Balthasar Eden Valley Shiraz is the pinnacle of the Grant Burge Shiraz range — a wine that draws on the cooler, higher-altitude Eden Valley to produce a Shiraz of greater complexity and restraint than the warmer Barossa floor. Plush, coiled, and brooding, this is a wine with a compact core that will reward patience.
Grant Burge is one of the Barossa's most celebrated winemakers, with a career spanning five decades and a reputation for wines of exceptional quality and consistency. The Balthasar is named for one of the three Magi — a nod to the wine's place at the top of the Grant Burge hierarchy. Eden Valley's cooler climate gives the Balthasar a distinctly different character from the estate's Barossa Shirazes: more spice, more earth, more complexity, and a longer ageing trajectory.
Plush with dark plum and berry fruits, yet showing a compact, coiled core. Hints of deep baking spice, turned earth, dark chocolate, liquorice, and light cedar and vanillin notes on the nose. The palate is flush with chocolatey dark and black fruits, with plentiful spice, earthen tones, crushed-stone tannins, and a slightly broody, dark spicy exit. A wine that is still coming together.
Full-bodied with crushed-stone tannins and a brooding, complex character. Best approached from 2025 onwards as the wine opens up. Will drink well through 2032–2035. Decant for at least 1 hour, or cellar for 3–5 years for the best experience.
At HK$229, the Balthasar delivers Grant Burge's flagship Eden Valley Shiraz at a price that is hard to argue with. Eden Valley provenance, five decades of winemaking expertise, and the structure to reward cellaring — this is a serious wine at an accessible price point.
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