These affordable Barossa wines come with a big pedigree
It would have been easy for a winemaker of Reid Bosward’s standing to unleash big, ego-saturated wines at “look at me” prices, but that’s not who he is.
How does someone end up in a life drenched in wine? Some are conceived under vine canopies and born into wine families. Others have a fateful encounter with a great bottle, one of those wines that rewires the brain and makes any other career inconceivable. Then there’s Reid Bosward. He wanted a new BMX.
It was the pursuit of that bike, and the lessons his parents felt he would learn if he went out and worked for it, that led him to a bottleshop in Dural, NSW, at the impractical age of 15. He washed the boss’s car and stacked the shelves. It took him a year to get the bike, and in that time he gained something more valuable. He’d become fascinated by the labels on the bottles, and engaged by the winemakers passing through the shop. He studied at Roseworthy Agricultural College, Australia’s crucible of winemaking talent, and learned even more as a young winemaker at Tyrrell’s. He sent faxes to Bordeaux producers whose numbers he’d found in the back of UK wine magazines. When Murray Tyrrell asked how he was getting on, Reid told him he hadn’t had a single positive response. “Leave it with me, son,” the boss replied.
The next morning Tyrrell presented him with three offers that had come in overnight, and suggested he take the one from Jacques Lurton. Eventually he ended up in the Barossa, built a global reputation for the wines he was making at Kaesler, and with his partners in that business revitalised Yarra Yering.
Now he has released the first wines under his own name. It would have been easy for a winemaker of Bosward’s standing to unleash big, ego-saturated wines at “look at me” prices, but that’s not who he is. They are unassuming and beautifully made, respectful of Barossan traditions and shaped by contemporary thinking.
They are Bosward by name, and by nature.
Bosward ‘Blondini’ 2024
$30
This is a cabernet from Dorrien (a celebrated site for the variety in the Barossa), but not as we know it. White Cabernet should be so wrong, but somehow Bosward makes it so right. Precise pressing, canny colour removal and an arrested fermentation have created a wine of uber-fruitiness, fragrant fleshiness and vibrant punchiness.
11% alcohol; 90 points
Bosward Touriga 2023
$30
Bosward’s Roseworthy classmate David Guimaraens, scion of the famous Port houses Fonseca and Taylors, instilled in him a love of touriga that shows here. Cordite and Dutch liquorice, black earth and tapenade. Pepper and coriander seed. Sinewy muscle, chiseled detail, chewy texture. Then the shaley, layered tannins kick in. Top-flight touriga.
12% alcohol; 95 points
Bosward Shiraz 2023
$30
Fruit from a grower in Bethany delivers depth, while another on the Vine Vale sands brings the wine’s lifted fragrance. Plums and brambles, cocoa powder and espresso crema. Deep core of spicy, fragrant fruit. Shiraz generosity without unnecessary fat. Juiciness, suppleness, line. A straight up bargain.
14% alcohol; 95 points