2022 Glaetzer Amon-Ra Shiraz

A towering Shiraz that offers a remarkable combination of freshness, power and rich plush fruit.

Amon Ra is Ben Glaetzer’s flagship Shiraz named after an Egyptian God who was considered to be the King of all Gods. According to Ben Glaetzer the key to Amon Ra Shiraz is balancing the fruit and tannin extraction rather the maximising it – “the fruit has such expression that we aim to preserve the characteristics of the vineyard rather than dominate them.” Fruit was sourced from a range of vineyards, aged between 50-130 years old, with a strong emphasis on fruit quality, rather than simply selecting parcels of fruit because they were from old vines. The wine was matured for 16 months in 100% new oak of which 5% was American and 95% French. It was bottled unfiltered.
Impenetrable inky black heart with an equally deep dark red black hue. Freshly crushed ripe blackberry, dark plum and liquorice aromas soar out of the glass trailed by spicy vanillin oak, hints of ripe blueberry, subtle earthy mocha and faint peppered fennel notes. Rich, powerful and incredibly intense, the full bodied palate is tightly packed with opulent blackberry, dark plum, liquorice and ripe blueberry fruits. Monumental in its stature it has a firm yet beautifully integrated tannin framework. Spicy vanillin oak, traces of mocha, earth and peppered fennel elements lurk beneath. Plush yet remarkably fresh it has an explosive finish that seemingly never ends.  
Drink over the next 10-15 years.
Alc. 15%

Other Reviews....
This seriously classy 2022 Amon-Ra is seamless and beautifully pitched with focus and refinement. Yet, it delivers powerful aromas of black licorice, fennel seed, and a core of blackberries dusted with star anise enriched by sweet, balanced oak. Impressive energy with a streamlined shape comes forward before building layers of sweet and savory tones. Chewy, fine tannins punctuate a finish of exceptional length. A stunning young wine that will build in bottle. Drink 2028 - 2045.
96 Points
Angus Hughson - Vinous

I feel that Ben Glaetzer's Amon-Ra is one of the flag bearers for contemporary Barossan shiraz, certainly when it comes to the more powerful, weighty styles. It has a sense of compression. Wildly concentrated black fruits and palate heft, yet it displays freshness and form; supple, lithe and possessed of northern subregional power writ large. There's an imperious tannin structure but the fruit just sucks it all up and charges on. One for the sybaritic indulger of Barossan wine. It's a ripper. Drink by 2043.
96 Points
Dave Brookes - James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion

The 2022 Amon-Ra Shiraz speaks so clearly of the Glaetzer house style: that is to say, sleek, polished, powerful, seamless and fruit-driven. These are wines that speak of the Barossa in their earthy splay of pliable tannin, but they have a vibrance to the fruit that is most attractive. So, while these wines harness the place—this wine could hardly be from anywhere else—they do it in a restrained kind of way. Not that you could call this 2022 Amon-Ra Shiraz "restrained" and get away with it. More to comment on the fact that Barossa is yoked and controlled in this wine. I like it a lot. There are notes of dark chocolate, black cherries, raspberry pastille and even pomegranate molasses, alongside sweet paprika, ironstone and red earth, roasted meat and a throw of tapenade. This is really good. 15% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. Drink 2024-2037.
96 Points
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate