John Duval
Plexus
Barossa Valley
2020

The producer

John Duval Wines is a boutique winery located in the Barossa Valley wine region of South Australia. The winery was founded by John Duval, who is widely regarded as one of the best winemakers in Australia. Duval was the chief winemaker for Penfolds Wines for 29 years and was responsible for producing some of the most famous wines in Australia, including Penfolds Grange.

After leaving Penfolds in 2002, Duval established his own winery with a focus on producing small quantities of high-quality wines. The winery produces a range of wines, including Shiraz, Grenache, and a Shiraz/Grenache blend, as well as a white Rhone-style blend. The wines are made using traditional winemaking techniques, with a focus on showcasing the unique terroir of the Barossa Valley.

John Duval Wines has received numerous awards and accolades over the years, including being named "Winery of the Year" by James Halliday's Wine Companion in 2011 (Australia). Two of Duval’s wines were awarded Wine of The Year by Wine Spectator in the United States. The wines are highly sought after by collectors and wine enthusiasts around the world. We have selected three of their wines for offer.

The wine

John Duval Plexus is the cornerstone wine of John Duval Wines, crafted by the former Penfolds Grange winemaker as a modern expression of the classic Barossa GSM blend. First released in 2003, Plexus brings together Shiraz, Grenache, and Mourvèdre from old, low-yielding vines - some over 100 years old - sourced from exceptional sites across the Barossa Valley. Each variety is fermented separately in small open fermenters with gentle cap management to extract fine tannins and vibrant fruit. The components are then blended and matured for around 12–15 months in a mix of seasoned and new fine-grained French oak barrels, with minimal intervention to preserve purity and site expression. Designed to showcase richness without heaviness, Plexus balances plush Barossa fruit with structure and complexity, and while it is delicious in its youth, it also has the pedigree to evolve beautifully over a decade or more.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.