2023 Tin Shed Melting Pot Shiraz | Marananga, Barossa Valley | 92 Points

🏆 92 Points | One Hell of a Barossa Shiraz for $32

Single-Vineyard Shiraz from Marananga – One of the Barossa Valley's Great Shiraz Districts

92 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Dark Fruit | Spice | Ironstone | Beautifully Balanced

Marananga, Barossa Valley, South Australia

92 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Single Vineyard | Hand Picked | Vegan Friendly

RRP $32

Every now and then you taste a wine and immediately think:

HOW IS THIS ONLY $32?

That's exactly what happened with the:

2023 TIN SHED MELTING POT SHIRAZ

This is seriously delicious Barossa Shiraz.

Rich enough to satisfy anyone looking for classic Barossa generosity, but with enough freshness, spice and savoury complexity to keep you coming back for another glass.

And the vineyard source makes the value even more impressive.

This isn't fruit pulled together from all over the Barossa.

It comes from a:

SINGLE 2-HECTARE VINEYARD

in:

MARANANGA.

One of the great Shiraz districts of the Barossa Valley.

And Halliday Wine Companion's Dave Brookes has given it:

92 POINTS.

At $32, this is exactly the sort of wine we love finding.

Tasting Notes

This has everything you want from really good Barossa Shiraz without becoming ridiculously heavy or overdone.

Expect:

• Dark plum

• Boysenberry

• Blackberry

• Chocolate-dipped cherry

• Purple flowers

• Baking spices

• Black pepper

• Orange peel

• Cedar

• Smoked meats

• Fruitcake

• Earth

There's plenty of flavour.

But importantly:

THERE'S BALANCE.

Dark berries and plum fill the palate before cedar, dark spice and savoury characters begin to emerge.

Bright acidity keeps everything moving.

The tannins have a lovely chalky quality.

And the oak sits beautifully underneath the fruit rather than dominating it.

Rich.

Spicy.

Savoury.

Juicy.

Seriously drinkable.

This is exactly how we like modern Barossa Shiraz.

92 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

Halliday Wine Companion reviewer Dave Brookes found a terrific combination of:

Chocolate-dipped cherries

Plum

Baking spices

Purple flowers

Fruitcake

and:

Earth

before a palate loaded with plum and boysenberry, chalky tannins and beautifully balanced acidity.

92 POINTS.

At:

RRP $32.

That's outstanding value.

Marananga

This is where the wine becomes even more interesting.

MARANANGA.

For serious Barossa drinkers, that name means something.

Marananga sits on the western side of the Barossa Valley and has become synonymous with some seriously impressive Shiraz.

The wines can have tremendous richness and concentration, but the best examples also possess beautiful spice, structure and savoury complexity.

And that's exactly what attracted us to this wine.

It tastes unmistakably Barossa.

But it isn't simply sweet fruit and alcohol.

There's red and black fruit.

There's floral lift.

There's spice.

There's savouriness.

And there's structure underneath everything.

The Doeckes Block

The fruit comes from a tiny vineyard known as:

THE DOECKES BLOCK.

Just:

2 HECTARES.

The Shiraz was planted in:

1993

on a fascinating combination of:

Sandy soils

over:

Ironstone and clay.

Now we're getting interesting.

Ironstone can be an important part of the character of vineyards on the western side of the Barossa.

And here you've got that combination of free-draining sandy topsoil with ironstone and clay beneath.

The vineyard rows run east to west, helping encourage more even ripening.

Tin Shed works with the grower using sustainable practices including cover cropping and minimal soil disturbance.

The fruit is:

HAND PICKED.

That's serious attention for a $32 Shiraz.

Tin Shed Wines

Tin Shed is exactly the sort of small Barossa producer we love finding.

The story began in:

1998

with a backyard shed.

Hence the name.

More than 25 years later, Tin Shed remains deliberately small and hands-on.

Their philosophy is refreshingly simple:

Single vineyards.

Good growers.

Minimal intervention.

Loads of flavour.

The wines are produced in small batches and are vegan friendly, with an emphasis on letting individual vineyards and seasons show themselves rather than manufacturing a house style.

No enormous marketing machine.

No ridiculous packaging.

Just seriously good Barossa wine.

This Tastes Like Much More Expensive Barossa Shiraz

This is what really got me.

I've tasted an enormous amount of Barossa Shiraz over the years.

And there are certain wines that immediately come to mind when drinking Melting Pot.

It has some of that combination of:

Dark fruit

Red fruit

Florals

Spice

Savouriness

that I love in wines such as:

SPINIFEX BÊTE NOIR SHIRAZ.

And that's a big compliment.

Spinifex Bête Noir is one of my favourite Barossa Shirazes.

Melting Pot isn't trying to copy it.

But there's something about the way the fruit, perfume, spice and savoury characters come together here that reminds me of that style.

And here's the crazy part:

You're paying around half the money.

RRP $32.

That's what makes this so exciting.

It Gets Better After Opening

Another thing I love about this wine?

It doesn't fall apart after the first glass.

Quite the opposite.

It looks terrific when you first open it.

Then give it some air.

It gets better.

More perfume emerges.

The fruit becomes more layered.

The spice becomes more obvious.

The tannins settle into the wine.

And if there's some left the following day?

IT'S EVEN BETTER.

That's something I always look for.

Good wines don't simply impress you for the first five minutes.

They evolve.

This does exactly that.

Barossa Richness Without the Heaviness

This is important.

There was a time when some Barossa Shiraz seemed to be competing to see who could make the biggest wine.

More fruit.

More oak.

More alcohol.

More extraction.

Melting Pot isn't that.

Yes, it has generosity.

It's Barossa Shiraz.

It should.

But underneath the fruit you've got:

Fresh acidity.

Chalky tannins.

Pepper.

Florals.

Savoury spice.

Earth.

That combination makes the wine incredibly drinkable.

It's not simply impressive.

YOU ACTUALLY WANT ANOTHER GLASS.

That's much more important.

Food Pairings

This is built for the table.

Try it with:

• Chargrilled steak

• Beef bourguignon

• Slow-roasted lamb

• Beef short ribs

• Barbecued pork

• Gourmet sausages

• Mushroom ragù

• Wood-fired pizza

• Aged cheddar

Tin Shed themselves suggest:

Beef Bourguignon with Parmesan Mash.

And frankly, that sounds pretty bloody good.

Cellaring

This is delicious now.

But there's enough fruit, tannin and acidity to give it some time in the cellar.

Drink now through 2032+.

I'd happily open it tonight.

Give it:

30–60 minutes in a decanter

and watch the perfume and spice emerge.

But put a few bottles away as well.

The combination of dark fruit, tannin and savoury structure should become increasingly interesting as it develops.

Why We Love It

Because this is exactly what a great-value wine should be.

It isn't cheap because the producer has cut every corner imaginable.

Look at what you're actually getting:

Single-Vineyard Shiraz

Marananga

Tiny 2-Hectare Vineyard

1993 Planting

Sand + Ironstone + Clay

Hand-Picked Fruit

Small-Batch Production

92 Points Halliday Wine Companion

And:

RRP $32

But ultimately none of that matters unless the wine tastes good.

AND THIS TASTES SERIOUSLY GOOD.

I've tasted plenty of Barossa Shiraz at $40, $50 and beyond that I'd happily leave on the shelf before this.

It has the dark fruit you expect from Barossa.

But what makes it special is everything around that fruit:

Red berries.

Florals.

Pepper.

Spice.

Savouriness.

Freshness.

It's even got shades of Spinifex Bête Noir, one of my favourite Barossa Shirazes, at around half the price.

2023 TIN SHED MELTING POT SHIRAZ

Marananga, Barossa Valley

92 POINTS – HALLIDAY WINE COMPANION

RRP $32

One hell of a Barossa Shiraz for the money.

👉 If you want rich, beautifully balanced Barossa Shiraz without paying $50+, put this straight into the basket. At $32, the 2023 Melting Pot is outstanding value.