The Standish Wine Company

Dan Standish is an extremely experienced winemaker, adding work in the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California, La Rioja in Spain and the Rhone Valley in France to his domestic winemaking. In 1999 he was able to negotiate a small parcel of 96-year-old shiraz from his parents' vineyard in the Vine Vale subregion of the Barossa Valley. This produces 300 dozen of The Standish, a wild yeast, open-fermented and basket-pressed shiraz matured in French oak for 30 months. The Standish, which uses his Rhone Valley experience led to the creation of The Relic, Shiraz (93%)/Viognier (7%) co-fermented, otherwise made with similar techniques. -JAMES HALLIDAY