It has to be one of the quality wine bargains of the year and frankly, at $45 it stacks up very well against Penfold’s RWT. The wine in question is the debut 1996 vintage of the new Barossa Shiraz by Peter Lehmann which he christened ‘Eight Songs’. Irrespective of the intriguing story behind the creation of eight different labels of this wine, each bearing a painting by Barossa artist Rod Schubert, the wine is a classic example that you can teach an old dog, if Lehmann doesn’t mind the analogy, new tricks. Although it’s a finer and more restrained wine than the Stonewell, Lehmann’s flagship, what’s new about Eight Songs is that, like the RWT, it’s been matured exclusively in French oak, ‘to ensure a balanced integration of fine oak tannins to the structure of the wine’, to quote the accompanying tasting notes. The result is so good that you’d hope more Barossa and McLaren Vale makers would follow suit. The Eight Songs (18.7, drink 2004-2008+) is as plush and luxuriant as a dark liqueur chocolate. Its sumptuous and lingering mouthfeel of creamy coffee/cedary oak and sweet cassis/plum fruit is packed with all the musky spices a great Barossa shiraz vintage can deliver. Superbly balanced and integrated, it not only fits its maker’s brief but puts a very clear spotlight on an expression of shiraz ignored by many South Australian makers for too long.
