Ochota Barrels' New Wines Give Insight into the Controversial 2020 Vintage

The current releases of Ochota Barrels are an early insight for each vintage, and 2020 is one in which yields were quite low and the Adelaide Hills region was also ravaged by devastating fires. But while quantity was low, the quality of what remained was extremely high. Ochota lost a number of parcels in the north of the Adelaide Hills region to the fires, some burned and destroyed, others to insidious smoke taint. The southerly part of the region and the adjoining McLaren Vale area were thankfully both free of any fire-related damage.

The tone of the 2020 vintage wines is one of outstanding purity, high natural acids and very energetic and defined wines. “It was as smooth as silk really,” Taras Ochota said when quizzed about his impression of the season. “The weather conditions were so in line with our style preferences and picking times. Mother nature danced with us beautifully.”

Ochota famously picks early in the ripening cycle and chases vivid, fragrant and playfully elegant style and this vintage naturally delivered these qualities. The Gewürztraminer Weird Berries In The Woods 2020 (95 points) is a shining example of just how concentrated flavors are in 2020 with such vibrant, linear acid drive. “There’s a wet pebble character that I like to chase and it is there in every wine this year,” Ochota adds. “Flavors arrived amid racy acidity, the alcohols are very low, yet the wines are just so full of flavor.”

The Texture Like Sun Sector Red 2020 (93 points) is the best we’ve seen from this blazing, bright-yellow label, an all-in, blended offering of many parcels and one that really sums up the quality and style of the whole vintage. Ochota’s light, lacy and fresh grenache from McLaren Vale, The Green Room 2020 (94 points) shows definition and depth and eclipses the outstanding 2019 edition. Bright red fruits, wet stones and finely defined tannins really sing in this wine.

Another highlight is the Pinot Meunier Marc of Cain 2020 (95 points) which has such exquisitely bright and fragrant style with light-pink flowers, strawberries and a crisp, vibrant palate that is just packed with crunchy raspberry, redcurrant and strawberry flavors. Mouthwateringly crunchy and fresh, this is knockout good and strikes a whole new level of quality for this wine.

The Barossa Mourvedre From the North 2020 (95 points) cements this wine’s pedigree and backs up a stunning 2019. Here the blueberries and attractive herb and forest-wood notes are cast in supple and fluid style with a sleek delivery of smooth-honed tannins that slide deep into the finish. It’s the outlying wine in the collection of nine, being from the Barossa and mourvedre, and yet it is so refined and polished.

One new wine has been added this year, the McLaren Vale Syrah Where’s The Pope? 2020 (93 points), which is a savory, complex iteration of syrah with stony, flinty and savory style highlighting black cherry, graphite, violet and blackberry. Fine, layered tannins have been so well crafted and pitched, this is all about quality fruit and intelligent handling. “This is named after a 90s band in Adelaide who’ve been hassling me to make a wine named after them for years. I think they’re pretty happy with this one,” Ochota says.

Quality is dialled upright across the board in these releases and there’s also a sense of strength and resilience in these wines, while they are still so ethereal and elegant. “There was no panic, no pressure, we had time for lunch every day and we had the time to work on every wine, study it and give it all the space and consideration it needed,” Ochota says. Well, it really shows.

– Nick Stock, executive editor