VOYEUR (Virgin Blue Flight Magazine), Ben Canaider - April 2011
Boutique winery observation no.576: boutique wineries have an enduring quality as if they've always been there and always will be. Turkey Flat's first vines were planted in 1847 and the Schulz family bought the vineyard in 1865. No wonder they tend to get things right. Their Mourvedre is a fine example of what this red Rhone blending variety can do in its own right. With depth and ample berry flavours, it's in no way cooked or stewed. It suggests that Mourvedre might be as well suited as Shiraz to the Barossa.

THE LEADER - BAROSSA VALLEY, March 2011
The Barossa Valley is one of a few areas in Australia that can successfully ripen Mourvedre. One of the original grapes grown in the Barossa Valley. The wine is deeply coloured, rich in spice, high in alcohol and tannin, gamey when young and full of fruit.
The suitability of Mourvedre to the Barossa's climate was tested during the 2008 vintage. It's vigorous canopy and late ripening allowed the fruit to withstand the extreme heatwave the Barossa suffered in Mid March. Low yields have resulted in a rich and generous wine with length of flavour and a fine, chalky finish. Fine floral bouquet of violets, bay and wood spice. Rich, intense flavours of fresh raspberries and blueberries, with white pepper spice. Cellar up to 15 years.

DAILY TELEGRAPH - July 2010
A stunning example of this now trendy variety, which, as mataro, was considered a 'workhorse' grape. This has blackberry-like aroma, deep colour, body and a rich, gamey taste. A big wine off old vineyards, aged 20 months in French oak. Enjoy with beef cheeks.

AUSTRALIAN WINE COMPANION 2011 James Halliday
Light but bright colour; a highly perfumed bouquet leads into a palate with more drive and intensity that I can recollect from any previous vintage; no confection here, just silky power.
Rating: 96 Points.

THE WINE FRONT - Campbell Mattinson, February 2010
I tasted a varietal mourvedre from Teusner today (called The Dog Strangler) and here’s another. Hope it’s the start of a trend.
Plush texture. Buoyant aromatics. Loaded with leathery, blueberried, tarry flavour and clipped with a healthy but helpful dose of cedary, spicy, malty oak. You have to go looking for the tannin, but slowly it builds a fine sense of shape. If that makes sense. What I’m saying is: all the components of this wine have welded beautifully together, and make for delicious drinking. Excellent.
Rating: 93 Points

CANBERRA TIMES - June 2010
Turkey Flat vineyard dates from 1847 . The Schulz family bought it in 1870. But the Turkey Flat label appeared only in 1990 when Peter and Christie Schulz took over in recent years, they spared a portion of wine from their old mourvèdre vines for special bottling. It's a late ripening variety and Schulz reckons this, and a vigorous canopy, saved it from the warmth of Barossa's savage March 2008 heatwave. The resulting tiny, black berries made a distinctive, delightfully fruity, savoury wine.
Rating: 4 Stars

WINE 100- Tyson Stelzer, June 2010
In the right hands, Mourvèdre can fly solo confidently in a vintage like 2008, as this wine exemplifies effortlessly. It's a rich, juicy style with all manner of dark berries swimming through its depths, and a touch of dried herbs complexity to add a little interest.
Rating: 92 Points

AUSTRALIAN GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE - May 2010
Clean, fresh aromas of herbs plus peppery Mourvèdre varietal signature. The palate is sweet and super-ripe, with succulent, almost jammy fruit. It has charm and popular appeal as well as quality. Rating: 4 Stars

COURIER MAIL - Ken Gargett, May 2010
Lovely spicy Barossa effort. Delicious black fruits, cherries and a hint of tobacco leaf. Rich style with a firm finish. Seamless. Rating: 90 Points

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE - Issue 186, December 2009
The dark ruby-coloured 2007 Mourvèdre was aged for 20 months in a mix of new and used French oak. It offers up alluring aromas of mineral, mushroom, underbrush, and blueberry. On the palate it has plenty of flavours but comes off as a bit compressed and lean in the finish. Even so, it is a fine example of this grape.
Rating: 88 Points

CANBERRA TIMES - October 2009
A wine that divided the crowd - comments ranged from "the best wine all week", to "that's nice", to "yuk, don't like that one at all". To my taste, it was wonderful - full and savoury, with Mourvèdre's distinctive, firm tannins.

THE WINE FRONT – Campbell Mattinson, July 2009
In recent years Turkey Flat has joined the (somewhat small) band of producers making a varietal Mourvèdre. All power to them. Smells lovely. Rich and ripe, blueberry and violets, orange peel and chocolate. Could sit and smell this for hours – I am a wine nerd after all. Drinking it though is a different proposition. It has a hollowness through the mid-palate and a clumpy set of tannins. Its flavours match the aromas so it's attractive enough, there just isn't enough flesh. Rating: 87 Points

AUSTRALIAN WINE COMPANION 2010 James Halliday
A dark and savoury bouquet, full of spice and sage; the palate is tannic and shows lots of sweet dark fruit, but the savoury component dominates alongside the tannins. Rating: 89 Points

WBM 100 - Nick Stock, April 2009
A terrific expression of the happy marriage of Mourvedre and the Barossa Valley. Sanguine earthy savoury notes with dark fruits and pepper. The palate is a real powerhouse, making a concentrated impression with toasty oak throughout. Sturdy dark plum finish.
Rating: 94 Points.

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE - Issue 181, February 2009
The purple coloured 2006 Mourvedre offers up an enticing perfume of wood smoke, scorched earth, mineral, and blueberry. Mouth-filling on the palate, it has enough ripe tannin to eveolve for 3-4 years and should offer prime drinking from 2011-2020.
Rating: 90 Points

DECANTER - Top 10 Australia Wines, February 2009
TThis rare unblended Mourvèdre from Australia is Turkey Flat's first varietal wine. Produced in the Barossa Valley, the only area in Australia where Mourvèdre can ripen fully, the wine has a very deep colour with some rich black fruit and spice. Full-bodied on the palate with firm tannins and supported by lots of black fruits and some gamey charcaters. A wine to enjoy with food.

AUSTRALIAN WINE COMPANION 2009 James Halliday
Has far deeper colour than the Hewitson mourvedres; robust and powerful black fruits, with elements of the savoury/spice/fairly sour tannins and flavour nuances. Will definately repay 10 years cellaring.
Rating: 94 Points.

THE ADELAIDE REVIEW - HOT 100, 2008
Turkey Flat's dedication to this terrific variety continues again with this 2006 vintage release, once again a shoe-in for the Hot 100. Plenty of richness, ripe and lifted - blood plum and pomegranate flavours charm whilst serious moody tannins create edgy impact. Marvellous stuff!

THE GUARDIAN - Victoria Moore, 15 November 2008
The bandol grape also has great potential down under. I like the way it retains mourvedre's violet perfume and plumbing depth while unpacking its flavours, which can be so compressed they are hard to appreciate.

THE ADVERTISER - Tony Love, November 2008
One of the southern Med varieties that comes into its own here in GSM blends and occasionally appearing on its own. Here it's full of earthy and meaty character underlying a dark, rich, almost licorice and spice set of flavours and beautiful tannins that lightly coat the mouth yet allow a juiciness that deserves a superb steak mash.

THE WINE FRONT – Campbell Mattinson, October 2008
I still think we should bottle more wines as either varietal mourvedre or as mourvedre-dominant … and it's good to see that some folks around these parts agree. It's well flavoured, that's for sure. It tastes of tar, sweet raspberries, aniseed and dry red port, the lot combining to make a large bed of rich, semi-sweet flavour. There's a moderate amount of tannin grip as you swallow it – though it doesn't get in the way.
Rating: 92 Points

ROBERT PARKER’S WINE ADVOCATE – Issue 173 October 2007
The 2006 Mourvèdre was aged in French Oak puncheons and hogsheads with some native yeast fermentation. This leads to a very fragrant bouquet with notes of forest floor, truffle, blackberry, and blueberry. Full-bodied, plush, and dense, this full-flavoured wine has several years of aging potential and can be enjoyed through 2020.
Rating: 91-94

AUSTRALIAN WINE COMPANION 2008 James Halliday
Unusual finesse, delineation and line for this variety; no more than medium-bodied, with the finest imaginable tannins. French oak somewhere in the mix but not easy to pinpoint.
94 points!

VOYEUR APRIL 2008
Although highly regarded by the locals the Barossa Mourvedre is largely ignored elsewhere. Wines such as this black beauty are laden with spicy, blackberry scented fruit and a distinctively intriguing earthy undertone.

THE 2007 ADELAIDE REVIEW HOT 100
'A brooding deep-hearted wine with earthy varietal character, dried dark berries and dried herbs, very direct but not overbearing. Typically demanding savoury tannins, tarry notes and toasted spices, all wound in at the finish.'

THE WINE FRONT – Campbell Mattinson, May 2007
The first release of a varietal Mourvèdre from Turkey Flat, the grapes till this vintage destined for the winery's Butchers Block blend. Great to see an increasing number of varietal mourvedres being released too – it's a wonderful variety. This rendition is sweet, silken-threaded, raisiny and supple and easy, a generous, malty, chocolaty flavour oozing through the finish. It is fresh with acidity too, and a touch leathery, which makes it almost feel like an aged wine even in its youth. It will age, but there is no need to. It is soft, cuddly, sweet and ready to rip now.
Rating: 90 Points

THE ADELAIDE REVIEW – Nick Stock February 16th – March 1st, 2007
This first brand-new varietal Mourvèdre wine from the Schulz shed on Bethany Road is somewhat of a landmark for vignerons Peter and Christie. A nice progression from their Mourvèdre-based Butchers Block blend, this varietal Mourvèdre is a triumph. They've captured the variety in essence. Rugged yet attractive, there's plenty of fragrant lift anddark brambly fruits, a hint of tarmac, a dusting of pepper, then cola and sweet spices that bridge the oak nicely. Filled with ripe dark fruit flavour in the mouth, they've tamed the tannins into deceptively smooth shape and laced together a toasty delicious finish. Rating: 90 Points.

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE - June 16-17/2007 - Max Allen BLOOD OF THE EARTH
This brilliant new wine from Turkey Flat starts with typically varietal forest-floor and blackberry aromas, then goes all luscious modern Barossa red in the middle before finishing with mourvedre's trademark web of firm tannin.

THE AGE - EPICURE UNCORKED INDULGE YOURSELF - Ralph Kyte-Powell
The first straight Mourvedre from historic Turkey Flat in the Barossa. Normally blended with Grenache and Shiraz, the makers reckon the 05 can stand alone. It has a penetrating armoa reminiscent of blackcurrant pastilles touched by sweet spice and vanilla. It's juicy and middling in body, with lip-smacking acidity and moderate tannins.

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE – Issue 167, October 2006
The pure, dense blue/purple coloured 2005 Mourvèdre offers up scents of flowers, blackberries, blueberries, tree bark, and earth, sweet tannin, and nicely integrated wood and acidity. It should drink well for a decade.
Rating: 92 Points.