Kaesler Old Bastard Shiraz 2021

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Kaesler Old Bastard Shiraz 2021.

Kaesler Old Bastard Shiraz 2021
$350, 14.5% alcohol, cork, Barossa Valley.

This wine is monumental in the best of ways. In short, it’s a home run, by a margin. It’s soft, deep, intense, complex, framed by tannin and so long through the finish that you have time to look at your watch as the flavours keep ricocheting along. It tastes of plums, pan juices, smoked meats, aromatic herbs, cedarwood and saltbush, though the eventual sum is greater than these parts. This wine is harmonious. This wine is emphatic. It’s an absolute beauty. 96 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of both The Winefront site (the home of Australia’s best wine reviews) and of Mattinson Photography.

Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer since 1987. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson is a storyteller. He is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic, and in all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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