Some of you may recall from Christmas Tastings before "the event" the charming John Gant proudly showcasing the wines made by his son, Matt, in the Barossa as one half of First Drop Wines. The multi-award winning winery hoovers up plaudits and awards with multiple 90+ point ratings and appearances on top 100 Aussie wine lists from the likes of Wine Spectator and James Suckling (to the best of our knowledge at least one of their wines has appeared in Matthew Jukes’ annual 100 Best Australian Wines Report since 2008).
We shall be running a small pre-release offer on top of the new cheaper pricing, but quantities are limited and there are rumours that some of the staff are feeling very tempted themselves. Minimum order of 6 bottles (can be mixed) and deadline of Friday 5th for pre-release pricing. Contact Ed on 0121-236-3837 or ed@connollyswine.co.uk to place your order
| Wine | Last Listed Price | New List Price | Pre-Release |
| 2014 Half & Half Monastrell Shiraz | £16.00 | £12.95 | £11.95 |
| 2014 Minchia Adelaide Hills Red | £21.00 | £17.95 | £16.50 |
| 2014 Nacional Touriga | £16.00 | £13.95 | £12.50 |
| 2015 Cold Sweat Moculta Syrah | £29.95 | £27.50 | |
| 2016 Fat of the Land Seppeltsfield Shiraz | *£55.00 | £45.00 | £40.00 |
| 2017 Full Fat Red | £11.75 | £11.00 | |
| 2017 Mother's Milk Shiraz | £16.00 | £13.95 | £12.75 |
| 2018 Full Fat White | £11.75 | £10.50 | |
| 2019 The Matador Garnacha | £14.00 | £12.95 | £11.95 |
*The previous Fat of the Land we stocked came from the Greenock Vineyard
"From three vineyards, two in the Eden Valley, machine-picked, crushed and destemmed, both open and static fermenters used for wild fermentation, 12 days on skins, ferment finished in French hogsheads, matured for 15 months. A medium-bodied blend that does have vague Spanish overtones, particularly with its mouthfeel (monastrell is mourvedre, aka mataro). It is in drink-me-soon style, more applicable to lurid labels on the most expensive First Drop labels."
Halliday Wine Companion 2017
An Aussie take on Montepulciano winemaker and owner John Retsas describes this as bursting with "Shirazamatazz".... It is however, incredibly intense and should be at all confused with the light to medium bodied acidic Montepulciano d'Abruzzo found at the local chain Italian pizza place. Hyper extracted with repeated pumping overs and drain and returns during fermentation, and then 20 months in barrel this is an intense dark ruby read full of dark kirsch and savoury notes on the nose, with more succulent dark cherry and grainy tannins palate. Ed has often thought this one of the heaviest wines in the shop and is more easily thought, and treated as, a big lump of Barossa Shiraz in a fancy jacket kind of wine.
Rare to find this variety outside of Portugal, where it's more usually found as fully bodied tannic monster, in the counterintuitive hands of Matt Gant this is a much more relaxed interpretation. from the Willunga foothills at the southern end of Maclaren Vale, the cooler maritime vineyards giving an attractive nose full of red plums and a touch of white pepper, with oodles of bright blueberry and blackberry flavours and surprisingly delicate supple tannins.
"Deep and decadent on the nose with plum, dried-meat and leather aromas. Some tar. Full-bodied yet fresh. Round and silky tannins. Juicy finish. Tangy acidity. Drink now"
95pts James Suckling
Leaving their home turf of the Barossa and heading north to Eden Valley, this is a cooler climate single vineyard Shiraz. Extensive MLF (Maleolactic fermentation) in new oak and 16 aging on it's lees give it plenty of welly.
"Another very ripe shiraz that remains attractive and delicious. So much blackberries that it’s almost hard to fathom. Dark cherry liqueur and dark plum cake and infusion, too. Sweetly scented milk chocolate throughout. Although restrained wouldn’t be the right word, this is actually quite elegant considering the fruit and how it manages to trade in floral territory between layers of ripe, lithe tannins. A chewy finish"
94pts James Suckling (also 93 from James Halliday too)
Part of the trio of Barossa vineyards that combine (a la Captain Planet) to form the iconic (and expensive "The Cream"), Seppeltsfield lies in the West of the Barossa and produces a marginally lighter style of heavyweight Barossa Shiraz.
An intriguing blend of Shiraz, Montepulciano, Cabernet and Touriga Nacional this is a full flavoured red, crammed with loads of berry fruit notes, particularly blueberries and dark cherries, with a finely textured palate of fleshy fuit and soft cedar tannins with a lifted spicy finish.
"Generous, with a plump mix of huckleberry and blackberry flavors, revealing a hint of green olive on a dense and juicy frame. Notes of black walnut and dried ginger emerge on the supple finish. Drink now through 2029"
92pts Wine Spectator (also 92pts from Mr Suckling as well)
Possibly our overall favourite of all the First Drop wines, the Mother's Milk Shiraz is what got us into First Drop originally- always stunning (every vintage from 2012 to even 2020 has been rated above 90pts by Wine Spectator). Spending a 15 months in oak it displays it wears the typical jammy weight of good Barossa lightly, with a wonderfully well-balanced touch of acidity, whether this is the hint of ‘wombat rolled in all spice’ that First Drop describe it as I'll leave to you to judge....
Comprised of grapefruity Arneis, green apple laden Pinot Grigio, & peachy/melony Chardonnay all harvested at perfect ripeness. All varieties were crushed immediately upon arrival at the winery, giving varying periods of skin contact, before low temperature natural yeast fermentation to preserve as much fresh fruit flavours as possible; 9 months of lees aging in steel added a wonderfully textured mouthfeel resulting in an incredibly drinkable full flavoured lemon sherbet dominated wine with mouth-watering minerality
"This has attractive orange-peel and raspberry aromas with some dried flowers, too. The palate has a very polished, soft bed of tannin, holding raspberry and red-plum flavours. Very easy feel with lacy, fine tannins. A single parcel in the north of the Barossa Valley. Drink now. Screw cap"
91pts James Suckling
Contact Ed on 0121-236-3837 or ed@connollyswine.co.uk to place your order
Yup, we’re going all Teutonic for the month of April with tastings (both in-store and virtual), a smashing and stupidly discounted “anything but Riesling” mixed case of Germanic joy and a whopping 10% discount off all German wines throughout the month.
10 % discount you say……?
Yup, this is the simple bit – 10% discount on all German wines throughout April – no minimum quantity.
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