News
Our Fathers New Releases Receive High Praise!
The recent releases of Our Fathers have been hugely well received, with Gary Walsh in www.winefront.com.au giving the 2022 Just Like Heaven a heavenly 95pts.
In his words:
"I love The Cure. They do some magnificent guitar work, which I guess most people don’t associate with their style of music.
This is such a fine and beautiful wine. Such balance and grace. Quince, pear, preserved lemon, honey and chamomile, dried oregano and fennel. It’s glossy, but also has a quiet flinty grip, lemon oil and apple, pistachios too, with a bright finish of considerable length. Beautifully made. These styles are kind of hard to get right, though this is very right. Outstanding."
The 2021 Shiraz and Spring follows Winter both scored 94pts, proving that Our Fathers really does deliver great wine, for good.
Two Wines of the Week
Just Like Heaven & Spring follows Winter
Tom Canavan www.wine-pages.com has been a supporter of Our Fathers before and this time he's made our 2020 Just Like Heaven and 2019 Spring follows Winter his wines of the week, both scoring 90pts. Thanks Tom!
Watch the video here:
2018 Triumphs in Halliday Awards
96pts & Great Value Award
‘Hand-picked from stingy old vines in Ebenezer, this rich, pulpy shiraz is dichotomously as dense as it is finessed. A warm climate wine playing Cool Hand Luke. Seasoned with some whole bunch spice and ensuing herbal seams, the gentle extraction is the gear that allows the fruit to flow. And it does. Long. Blue, black and mulberry, all. Anise, charcuterie, five-spice, bergamot. Floral aromas. The skein of pepper-grind acidity and detailed tannins, the clutch.’
2018 Original Shiraz off to a flying start!
The 4th vintage of our Original Shiraz to be released has received an incredible review prior to its launch in the UK and Australian markets. Tasted by Gary Walsh of www.winefront.com.au he wrote these beautiful, heartfelt words
"I believe proceeds from this wine go to charities working around mental health, which is a wonderful thing. Giles Cooke MW, is a top bloke, I’ve met him a couple of times, had lunch with him, and can vouch for his excellence as a human. Anyway, we sometimes wear our heart on our sleeves here at TWF, or at least, I certainly do. As part of my personality, or deliberately so, I tend not to filter much of what I say. I’m happy being that way, quite frankly. It may be disarming, but you get it straight, regardless. My Dad died when I was 17, and I think about him quite a lot, especially now that I’m a father myself. He never got to meet my two boys, which is a constant source of sadness to me. Regardless, I’m lucky to have had him for that short time. He was a good man. A good Dad. I miss him. Is that a lump in my throat? Deep breath. Onwards.
Big deep and rich wine here. It’s a warm hug of black fruit, dried herbs and tar, a little mint and dark chocolate. Plush, thick silty tannin, some lavender perfume, mouth-filling flavour, balanced acidity, brightens to some raspberry on the long finish. It’s an excellent, smooth and controlled, yet throaty example of Barossa Shiraz. I’m disinclined to reduce it to a number, but will offer that it’s a wine of ‘gold medal’ standard."
5 Figure Donations!
Our purpose is to produce fine wine with a heart - all of our profits are given to deserving charities with an emphasis on mental health, palliatice care and heart health. We're therefore delighted to announce that total donations to charity have exceeded £10 000!
Thanks so much for all of your support. Wine really can be a force for good.
Spring follows Winter - Shiraz & Grenache
Our Fathers has been unanimously well received both critically and by customers. But we know that its not somethng to drink every day. We're delighted to announce that we now have a 2nd wine that allows people to drink Our Fathers more regularly while still supporting great cause
Spring follows Winter is a blend of Shiraz and Grenache and has the power and lush fruit you've got accustomed to but now with delicious succulent strawberry laden Grenache for extra drinkability. Sadly, I havent made much of it - just 125 six bottle cases- so do get in touch if you want to try this delicious red.
£14 per bottle inc vat & delivery
$35 per bottle inc WET & GST
Halliday Wine Companion 2019
The Halliday Wine Companion is the bible of Australian wine and the 2019 edition has just been released. The 2016 Our Fathers has been given 95points while the 2015 gets 94 points. In describing the '16, James Halliday says:
"Deep crimson-purple; many of the thumbprints of Bachelor’s Block are repeated here, but with a lighter/ scaled- down matrix. You don’t need any encouragement to buy the wine, and the profits are donated to health charities (details from www.ourfathers.co.uk). This is an elegant Barossa Shiraz in every respect, the balance perfect. Cork. 14% alc. To: 2036."
Why not see whether you can tell the difference between a 95point wine and a 94 point wine?!
Wine with Heart
Any donation to charity is a good one, and it's what Our Fathers is all about. To date, the donation made have been to support charities that helped those around me but it was time to thank those people that helped me in my hour of need.
Back in 2015, not long after the release of the first vintage, I had a heart attack out of the blue. The treatment I received, some of it experimental, was in no doubt supported by the British Heart Foundation.
The BHF does amazing work in the fight against cardiovascular disease and so i'm delighted to be able to share that this week Our Fathers has donated £1000 to the BHF.
Thank you to all those who have bought Our Fathers and made this donation possible.
2016 Our Fathers Score the Highest Yet!
Campbell Mattinson, one of Australia's most respected wine critics, recently tasted the new vintage 2016 Our Fathers and gave it a resounding 95pts!
"Dark in colour. Broody and rich to taste. Sweet plum, blackberry, coal and cedarwood. A rake of assertive, dry, fruit-soaked tannin. Barossa shiraz as a mothership of flavour. Structure to match. Made in a sweet, power-packed style but a fantastic wine at that."
Supporting Suicide Prevention
August 2017
Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) is the latest benefactor of Our Fathers' generous supporters. Our latest donation of £1500 will go towards suicide prevention campaigns and will, in a small way, save lives. Thanks to everyone who has bought a few bottles and made this possible.
Tim Atkin MW
"A wine that tastes as good as it looks, this is made by my fellow Master of Wine, Giles Cooke (we passed in the same year), who donates all of the profits to charity. Sourced from the Ebenezer sub-region of the Barossa Valley, it's rich, but well balanced, with subtle oak, refreshing acidity, fine-grained tannins and sweet bramble and bluberry fruit. Long and refreshing with a savoury tang"
Wine of the Week
94 pts
Campbell Mattinson
"Dense fruit matched to sinewy tannin. It’s always a good combination. Cassis and redcurrant, creamy oak and crushes of earth/dried spice. It feels velvety and accordingly, it flows through the mouth in seductive fashion. Impeccably grown, made and presented"
93pts
Our Fathers Second Donation!
Our Fathers is also committed to supporting Mental Health charities and so it gave me immense satisfaction to be able to make a donation of £1000 to SAMH, Scottish Association for Mental Health. This money will be used to support their work on suicide prevention - an issue so, so close to my heart.
Our Fathers First Donation!
The Original inspiration for Our Fathers was the desire to give something back to those who had supported my father through his final days. I was so pleased to be able to make the first donation of £2000 to St Columbas Hospice, Edinburgh earlier this year.
Here's a picture of me placing a rememberance daisy in their special garden. Thanks to everyone who has supported Our Fathers and made this support possible.
Jamie Goode
"Beautifully pakaged. Sweet lively raspberry and plum notes with some blackcurrant too. Fresh with a complex savoury baking and notes of herbs, pepper and ginger. Nicely supple and quite elegant, this is made in a warm ripe style as befits the Barossa, but with plenty of silky elegance and a supple personality"
94pts
Rose Murray Brown MW
The Scotsman
" My top choice is Our Fathers Shiraz 2014, created by fellow Master of Wine Giles Cooke in memory of his father who died of lung cancer. Cooke wanted to give something back, so instead of running a marathon e selected a 125 year old vineyard in the Barossa Valley - and made a Shiraz. And its one of the best Barossa Shiraz I have tasted, with overt wild berry and violet aromas, a lush soft palate with beautifully ripe tannins and a fine long finish"
Justin Howard-Sneyd MW
" Intriguing, herbal, fragrant and lithe Shiraz with lots of complex red fruit- hints of raspberry and liquorice. Lovely concentration of old vine fruit, yet refreshing and moreish"
