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The UK's No.1 Australian Wine Specialist
2022 Our Fathers Just Like Heaven
Roussanne Grenache Blanc
£17.25 per bottle yet, The WINEFRONT, Australia’s longest running online-only wine review site and probably the most respected group of independent critics around in Oz (they get our vote), awarded the 2022 Our Fathers Just Like Heaven Roussanne Grenache Blanc a higher score than they did for the 2021 Standish The Relic and The Standish! Unbiased they are – resoundingly so. ‘Without inflation’ as they call it. That’s for sure…
Critical acclaim is, and I say this cautiously (before I am exiled), becoming one of the wines industries' biggest bores and infatuations. There’s a proliferation of critics – some are talented, and I look forward to reading their work. Some, less so, and struggle to put together a tasting note (we have customers who do a better job!).
Wine producers feed the sea of critics as many appear afraid to release their wines without a string of reviews. Diversity in opinion is good however, the range of scores / opinions (for the same wine) is often contradictory. How can one professional critic award a wine 97-98 points and another 91-92. Personal likings, of course. For sure, it’s Russian roulette for the wine producer. If I were in their shoes, I would align my wine style to critics who enjoy my art. Sending samples to the wrong critic is akin to a bullet to the head! We’ve seen it happen… Better still, start emptying the sea and rely of those who matter the most – those who buy the wines! Would wine sales slump if customers had no critical reference – good point, I guess. Personally, and something I have been saying for an age – let’s have a twelve-month-amnesty on scores. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to see the impact. After all, wine is about flavour and emotion, which can be beautifully captured in words. Wine should never be judged on a number (save for the cost).
Back to the 2022 Our Fathers Just Like Heaven Roussanne Grenache Blanc. We enjoy supporting Giles and his charitable work (as we have done previously). We’ve sampled the 2021 Standish The Relic, The Standish and sat and enjoyed a glass of the newly released ‘Just Like Heaven’.
It’s delicious – textural and multi-layered. It’s a serious proposition (I would decant for a wee while). It’s wonderfully balanced, shapely, with a glorious gloss and sheen. Suave and sensitive. Beeswax, spring flowers, white peach, stone and orchard fruits. Wonderfully quenching. The palate weight cradles you sensitively. The skill of the winemaker and the quality of the fruit are on-show. Impeccably balanced and an impeccable wine. Do not hesitate – buy with absolute confidence as this is one of 2023’s overachievers, but it ain’t no Standish… 😉
It's a win-win for everyone. You enjoy a sensational wine (for an absolute bargain price) and four amazing charities directly benefit with each purchase.
“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.”
Gary Walsh, The WineFront
We have 90 bottles available for immediate delivery
Winemaker Giles Cooke MW has been responsible for some of the most lauded wines (Thistledown) coming out of Australia in recent times. As such, Our Fathers was never going to be just a charity gimmick, which is abundantly clear…
This represents Giles’ first white and is named in recognition of his wife's favourite song. Inspired by the white wines of the Rhône valley in France, it is a beautifully balanced blend of two varieties which are still quite rare in Australia. Hand-picked Roussanne and organically farmed Grenache Blanc are wild fermented in barrels and a concrete egg to produce a textural, pithy white wine with lovely honeysuckle laced fruit.
Giles explains the inspiration behind Our Fathers Wine - “In the Winter of 2013, my father was taken ill. A non-smoker all his life, he was diagnosed with lung cancer which had mestastised to the brain. Sadly, he died just 50 days later at the age of 74. Inspired by the care that he had been shown during his illness, I decided that I'd like to give a little back.
Some people, when faced with such tragedy, run a marathon but, doing the thing that I know best, I decided that my contribution would be to make a wine and that any profits would be donated to good causes.
Later the same year, while walking through a 125 year old Barossa Valley vineyard I was struck by the history that a vineyard of this age holds. The gnarled vines, many barely alive, are testament to both the resilience of nature and the spirit of those farming them through good times and bad.
It was an easy decision to make Our Fathers first wine from this very vineyard.
As if all that wasn't enough, the mental illness that my mother had battled with for some years, finally overcame her in the most tragic of ways in July 2014. Another reason to give something back.
Finally, I hope, I had a heart attack in May 2015, totally out of the blue. While very serious, my recovery has been good and my desire to help those less fortunate has only been emboldened. Our Fathers has been a focus for good throughout all of these hurdles…"
It is Our Fathers commitment that all profits from the sale of the wine will be donated to charitable causes. The nature of these causes is:
- St Columbas Hospice, Edinburgh
- Cancer Research UK
- British Heart Foundation
- SAMH - Scottish Association on Mental Health
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