99 points

Despite being only 2% Viognier, in its current state, Standish's 2018 The Relic Shiraz-Viognier shows prominent notes of stone fruit and spice, plus the blackberries and blueberries of the Shiraz. Full-bodied, lush and creamy-textured, with a long, silky finish, this beauty should drink well for a couple of decades after its release next year. Drink 2020-2040.
Joe Czerwinski – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate

96 points

Hongell Family Vineyard, Krondorf. Planted 1912. Warm climate Shiraz and Viognier are uneasy bedfellows for me, generally, but sometimes they work. It’d be a different wine without the Viognier, though, obviously, I can’t state that it would be better. There’s 2% of the V-word in the mix here.
Apricot, vanilla bean and white flowers, ripe blueberry, blackberry pie with a spicy crust. It’s silky, juicy, layers of silky and silty tannin, gentle but persistent and maybe even insistent. Succulence and perfume, something of a grilled steak flavour, freshness and density, and sweet sweet length. It’s a warm fruit pie of a wine, but keeps itself so well controlled. It’s very hard not to be impressed. Drink 2022-2038+

Gary Walsh – The Wine Front

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Black as night heart with a nearly equally deep black dark red hue. A touch more reserved at first than the other three Standish wines but perhaps the most exotic, the nose serves up an intense aromatic profile of black cherries, liquorice and dark plum which are married to vanillin cedar, hints of apricot and honeysuckle as well as scorched earth finishing with a burst of blackpepper. Rich and decadently textured layers of luscious black cherry, liquorice and black plum fruits meld into toasty vanillin oak, light infusions of honeysuckle, scorched earth and blackpepper. The tannins cast a sturdy shadow of strength across the fruit yet have a slippery feel. Outstanding intensity with a very long and polished aftertaste.
Cellar 8-10 years.

In 2018, Dan declared the vintage as 'textbook Barossa', and his suite of wines released this year are some of his finest work to date. The Standish Relic Shiraz is kindly referred to as the 'bruiser' of the pack. Co-fermented with a small amount of Viognier, it comes in at a whopping 14.9% alcohol. Like a great Amarone wine, however, the warmth is never felt, with a dense array of roasting spices, broth, blueberry, mulberry and cassis standing tall and proud, inviting the drinker into a heady concoction of mulled fruit and dense, inky tannins. This is assertive stuff, and is the kind of wine that Australia and the Barossa should truly be proud of. It's wears the region as a badge of honour, with the sun-kissed, dry-grown ancient fruit and the brilliant guiding force of winemaker Dan Standish ensuring all you need for this world-class Australian wine. One day, Dan's going to come to his senses and charge a whole lot more for entry... so best jump on the bandwagon now.