Standish
“The Standish”
Barossa Valley
2019

The producer

The Standish Wine Company was founded in 1999 by sixth-generation Barossan Dan Standish, whose family roots in the region trace back to the 1840s. Before establishing his own label, Dan gained extensive experience working vintages in both Australia and abroad, including time in the Rhône Valley, which helped shape his approach to Shiraz and site expression. His aim from the outset was to produce small-volume wines that captured the individuality of Barossa’s finest old-vine vineyards while retaining balance, structure and precision.

Fruit is sourced from a handful of exceptional, low-yielding sites across the Barossa and Eden Valleys, many planted with old dry-grown vines on ancient soils. Each wine is produced as a single-vineyard expression, with an emphasis on vineyard character over overt winemaking influence. Fermentation techniques, extended élevage and careful oak handling are used to build texture and complexity without masking the fruit.

Over the past two decades, The Standish Wine Company has become one of Australia’s most critically acclaimed boutique producers. The wines are noted for their concentration, perfume and structural detail, combining the power expected of Barossa Shiraz with unusual freshness and finesse. Production remains extremely limited, and allocations are tightly held internationally, cementing Standish among the leading names of modern Australian fine wine.

The wine

“The Standish” is sourced from a small parcel of dry-grown Shiraz vines in the Laycock family vineyard at Greenock in the north-western Barossa Valley. Planted in the early 20th century on deep sandy soils over clay, the old vines produce naturally low yields with intense concentration and aromatic complexity. Fermentation takes place with a significant proportion of whole bunches to build perfume, structure and energy, before maturation in French oak barrels, carefully judged to support the fruit without dominating the wine’s character.

The resulting wine is one of the most powerful and distinctive expressions in the Standish portfolio, combining immense depth with remarkable precision. Layers of blackberry, black cherry and blueberry fruit are framed by notes of exotic spice, dark chocolate, graphite and dried herbs. Despite its concentration, the palate remains poised and finely detailed, with savoury tannins, vibrant acidity and exceptional persistence. A modern Barossa classic, “The Standish” captures both the intensity of old-vine Shiraz and the refined, site-driven style that has made Dan Standish one of Australia’s most highly regarded winemakers.

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.