About The Wine

Dubbed as an "Australian Wine Legend" by Robert Parker, John Duval is one of Australia's most renowned winemakers with more than 35 years of experience in the industry. 

The last name Duval has a long history in Australia's wine world.For more than 100 years, the family vineyards have supplied grapes to some of the best winemakers in South Australia.

John Duval's vineyards date from the second half of the 19th century and are built on more than 30 years of winemaking experience and more than 5 generations of experts. John Duval is the true visionary of the family as he is the one who transitioned from only selling grapes to making his own wines.

John Duval graduated from Adelaide University’s Roseworthy College in 1973, and secured a sought after winemaking role with Penfolds for the 1974 vintage. During his time with Penfolds, John Duval apprenticed to Don Ditter and Max Schubert, creators of Australia's most famous and iconic wine called “Grange”. Duval displayed his winemaking skills and became the third winemaker in 1986.

John played a very important role in the positioning and worldwide recognition of the Penfolds winery.During his 29+ years at Penfolds, Duval became a world-renowned star winemaker. Some of his accolades include being named the UK Wine and Spirit Competition's International Winemaker of the Year, 2x Red Winemaker of the Year and receiving the "Wine of the Year" award from Wine Spectator.

John Duval discovered the treasures of the Barossa Valley terroir and became a complete lover of the old vines of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Duval's hallmark is complex and elegant wines with great aging potential that express the best of the Barossa Valley terroir.

John Duval is not only a Wine Rockstar in Australia, but he is also involved with Viña Ventisquero in the Apalta Valley in Chile, where he is the consulting winemaker. On top of this, he is also a partner at the Longshadows winery in Washington.

Aging: 18 months in 54% new oak in French hogsheads

Tasting Notes: 100% Shiraz. Lifted black plum, blackberry, and blueberry with hints of earth, anise, and spicy, savory oak. The palate is an elegant expression of rich dark fruits with some earthy savoriness and smoked meat flavors. It is long and intense with excellent fruit purity and freshness, finishing with a taut backbone and persistent fine tannin structure.

Reviews

This downright sexy bottling is singing. A high-toned blood plum and blueberry note rings loudest while licorice, mocha, warm gravel and baking spices reverberate. Comfy in its own skin, it's round and supple with lovely berry freshness and elegant, cat's tongue tannins. Drink now–2038. ~97 Wine Enthusiast

Very deep, saturated purple/red colour, with a smoky, graphite, charcoal and ironstone bouquet, complex and classic Barossa. The palate adds dark chocolate. The wine is powerful, concentrated, fleshy and dense, with ample tannins that are supple and ripe, contributing to a palate that has impeccable line and length. An outstanding Barossa shiraz, drinking well already but with many years ahead of it. ~97 The Real Review

The 2018 vintage was excellent in the Barossa (and many other places in Australia, too). The wines are ripe but fresh and have a really firm framework of tannins that give them poise and shape. This 2018 Eligo Shiraz is perfectly representative of the vintage conditions, and when compared to the 2017 before it and the 2019 after it, the 2018 shows luminescence and succulence. The tannins are lithe and whiny—this is brilliant. Bravo. It'll only get better. ~96+ Wine Advocate

The first Eden Valley dominant Eligo (70%) with the Barossa Valley parcel coming from Adrian Hoffmann’s Ebenezer vineyard. From an excellent vintage, this has a very fragrant nose, with fresh roasted spices and a cedary-oak thread that opens to cocoa powder, redcurrants, peaches, pomegranates, blueberries and blackberries. So, so youthful. The palate is very plush, fleshy and long. Flavor-soaked with rich and fresh blackberry and red-plum flavors. Long cellaring life here. An excellent Eligo. Try from 2025. ~96 James Suckling

Inky core with a deep ruby rim. Mulberry, varnish and cedar aromas. Rich and velvet on the palate, dark fruits, cola and loamy earth complexities. Slides and glides with fine tannins and a light hint of brightening acidity. Very long. ~95 The Real Review

70/30% Eden/Barossa Valley fruit, from the best selection of the vintage.Matured 18 months in 55% new French oak hogsheads. Eden Valley fruit dominant for the first time. This shiraz achieves definition and detail via grand concentration and enduring structure. Deep wells of black fruits of all kinds, licorice and coal steam are confidently supported by a frame of new French oak tannins. A dry finish reflects a drought year, yet holds pretty good persistence and promise. ~95 Halliday Wine Companion

Big, beefy, rich and ripe red with incredible concentration, depth and general sense of ‘drink with HAZMAT suit on’ kind of Barossa shock and awe. Such a presence in the glass, stains the snout with dark berry compote scents, aromas of boot polish, walnut, furniture polish, black pepper. The flavours are similar, it’s a beast, but so slick, smooth, impenetrable and then, holy heck, a little slick of tannin comes in to liven things up. It’s a bit OTT and slightly out of kilter in wood presence right now, but sheesh, this makes a big impact and gets so much of its heft and loping gait right. Big, done good. Take your time. ~94 The Wine Front