🏆 97 HALLIDAY | TROPHY WINNER | ONLY 180 DOZEN MADE | EXTRAORDINARY YARRA SHIRAZ

This Could Be the Best-Value Shiraz in the Yarra Valley

For anyone who loves the more elegant, savoury side of Australian Shiraz, this is an absolute standout

97 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Yarra Valley, Victoria

RRP $57.50 a bottle

97 Points – This Could Be One of the Best-Value Shirazes in the Yarra Valley

This is a wine that deserves serious attention.

The 2024 Medhurst Estate Shiraz has received a massive 97 points from Halliday Wine Companion—putting it into elite territory—yet carries an RRP of just $57.50.

And this is not big, jammy Australian Shiraz.

This is cool-climate Yarra Valley Shiraz: fragrant, spicy and beautifully structured, combining red and dark fruits with pepper, fennel, florals and silky tannins.

The wine comes entirely from Medhurst's estate vineyard at Gruyere and was matured for 11 months in French oak barriques and puncheons, with only 20% new oak.

For anyone who loves the more elegant, savoury side of Australian Shiraz, this is an absolute standout.

97 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

97 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

That's an exceptional score for a Shiraz at this price.

Halliday Wine Companion confirms the 2024 Estate Vineyard Shiraz as a Yarra Valley release at 13.5% alcohol, tasted in October 2025.

It also comes from a winery performing at an extraordinarily high level. Halliday's recent Top 100 Wineries assessment noted that seven of eight Medhurst wines reviewed received gold-medal scores, with seven also receiving its special-value designation.

That tells you this isn't an isolated great bottle.

Medhurst is on a serious run.

Tasting Notes

The 2024 is beautifully expressive, showing:

• Mulberry
• Black cherry
• Blood plum
• Red berries
• Red florals
• Berry crumble
• Cracked black pepper
• Star anise
• Fennel
• Baking spices
• Fine French oak

The colour is vibrant with intense purple hues, while the nose leads with red florals, berry crumble and baking spices.

Then the palate gets serious.

Layers of mulberry, black cherry and blood plum provide the fruit core, before star anise, fennel and freshly crushed peppercorns bring the savoury complexity.

The palate has genuine weight and concentration, but it's framed by silky tannins that carry everything through a long finish.

Fruit. Spice. Perfume. Tannin. Length.

It's a beautifully complete Shiraz.

Estate-Grown at Gruyere

This is genuine estate-grown Yarra Valley Shiraz.

The fruit comes from Medhurst's F Block:

Aspect – North East
Elevation – 130–150 metres
Variety – 100% Shiraz
Harvested – 1 March 2024

Medhurst's estate sits on the western side of the Warramate Ranges at Gruyere, with vineyards ranging from approximately 130 to 220 metres elevation. The vineyard was established in 2000 and planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

This is one of the reasons Medhurst is becoming such an exciting Yarra Valley producer.

These aren't generic regional wines.

They're increasingly precise expressions of the estate.

Shiraz – Not Barossa Shiraz

This is an important distinction.

If your picture of Australian Shiraz is huge black fruit, high alcohol and lots of oak, forget it.

The 2024 Medhurst sits at just 13.5% alcohol.

That gives you an indication of the style.

There's plenty of fruit intensity, but the wine is more about perfume, pepper, spice, texture and structure than sheer weight.

Think:

Mulberry rather than jam.
Pepper rather than vanilla.
Silky tannins rather than brute force.
Freshness rather than alcohol.

For drinkers who love Northern Rhône Syrah and Australia's best cool-climate Shiraz, this is exactly the territory you want to be exploring.

Pepper, Fennel & Spice

One of the things that makes cool-climate Shiraz so compelling is its savoury character.

Medhurst's own tasting note specifically identifies:

Star anise
Fennel
Freshly crushed peppercorns

Those flavours sit alongside mulberry, black cherry and blood plum.

That's the magic.

You're not simply getting a mouthful of ripe Shiraz fruit.

Every time you return to the glass, another layer appears.

Fruit becomes floral.

Floral becomes pepper.

Pepper becomes fennel.

And underneath everything sits the wine's fine tannin structure.

Restrained French Oak

Another thing I really like about the wine is the oak treatment.

The 2024 was matured for:

11 months in French oak barriques and puncheons

with only:

20% new oak.

That's exactly the sort of oak regime you want with elegant Shiraz.

The intention isn't to make the wine taste like wood.

The oak is there to provide structure, texture and subtle spice while allowing the fruit and vineyard character to remain front and centre.

And using larger puncheons alongside barriques further reduces the impact of oak flavour.

The Fascinating 2024 Vintage

The 2024 growing season at Medhurst was anything but straightforward.

After a relatively dry November, December and January became exceptionally wet, with 282mm of rain falling across those two months.

Then the season completely changed.

February and March were extraordinarily dry, with only 10mm of rain, while the late summer warmth helped push the fruit rapidly towards maturity.

Harvest came early and moved quickly, with the entire Medhurst vineyard picked in approximately two and a half weeks.

The resulting Shiraz combines impressive fruit concentration with the freshness expected from the Yarra Valley.

Medhurst Is Becoming a Serious Yarra Valley Name

If you haven't been paying attention to Medhurst, now is the time.

Halliday's recent assessment ranked Medhurst among its Top 100 Australian Wineries and highlighted the remarkable consistency across the portfolio under winemaker Rohan Smith.

And when you look across these releases, you can see why.

2024 Estate Chardonnay – 96 Points
2024 Estate Shiraz – 97 Points

These are serious scores.

But importantly, Medhurst hasn't pushed the Estate wines into the price territory of many of the Yarra Valley's cult producers.

That's what makes them so compelling.

Food Pairings

This would be brilliant with:

• Roast lamb
• Chargrilled lamb cutlets
• Duck breast
• Beef fillet
• Venison
• Slow-cooked beef cheek
• Wild mushrooms
• Wood-fired meats
• Pepper-crusted steak
• Aged hard cheeses

I'd particularly love it with lamb, rosemary and garlic.

The pepper, fennel and red-fruited character of the wine would be magnificent alongside it.

Cellaring

There's plenty to love now.

The fruit is vibrant, the aromatics expressive and the tannins beautifully silky.

But there's enough concentration, acidity and structure underneath to make this worth cellaring.

Drink now–2038+.

If you're opening one young, I'd give it an hour in a decanter and serve it around 16–18°C.

Why We Love It

This might be one of the best-value premium Shirazes in the Yarra Valley.

Look at what you're getting:

97 Points – Halliday Wine Companion
Estate-grown Yarra Valley Shiraz
13.5% alcohol
11 months French oak
Only 20% new oak
RRP $57.50

And then look at the flavour profile:

Mulberry. Black cherry. Blood plum. Red flowers. Star anise. Fennel. Cracked pepper. Silky tannins.

That's everything I want from serious cool-climate Shiraz.

At $57.50 RRP, the 2024 Medhurst Estate Shiraz offers the perfume, savoury complexity and sophistication you'd normally expect to pay considerably more for.

If you love Clonakilla, Yarra Yering, By Farr, Giaconda, Mount Langi Ghiran or great Northern Rhône Syrah, put this on your list.

97 Halliday points. $57.50 RRP. This is exactly the kind of wine that seriously over-delivers.