Very few wines on this earth with as much historical importance as Tahbilk's '1860 Old Vine Shiraz'.
Note the current vintage (2016) sells for $360 at Cellar Door!
As original as the Estate itself, these un-grafted, pre-phylloxera Shiraz plantings are amongst the oldest in the world. The vines have survived Phylloxera; the vine louse that decimated Europe’s vineyards and arrived at Tahbilk in the late 1800s; as well as Mother Nature’s droughts, floods and killer frosts.
The '1860 Vines' planting was nominated by renowned USA Wine Spirits magazine as one of the 25 Great Vineyards of the World. The vineyards selected were those where "the terroir; the total environment of a place, including soil, climate, aspect, vine and even history is most clearly perceptible in the wine.”
Wine auctioneers Langton’s recently released Classification of Australian Wine VII lists Tahbilk’s '1860 Vines' Shiraz releases as "Outstanding", defined as the best of Australian winemaking practices, vineyard provenance and regional voice. "The exquisite and increasingly rare 1860 Vines Shiraz; typically possesses violet, herb garden, blackberry and chocolate aromas, loose-knit gravelly tannin structures, and underlying roasted walnut and chestnut notes.”