98/100 James Suckling
97/100 James Halliday
96/100 The WIne Pilot
93/100 Ralph Kyte-Powell

Halliday Wine Companion - 5 Star Winery
James Halliday Top 100 Wine 2018
James Halliday Top 100 Winery 2017
James Halliday Top 100 Wine 2017

Halliday Wine Companion Awards, James Halliday "It is a graceful wine with a silky texture, red and purple fruits foremost; the tannins superfine, the finish lingering, the aftertaste fresh. Lovely now or in 20+ years."

Ralph Kyte-Powell “The palate is rich and full with sustained flavour, velvet texture and ripe, fine-grained tannins underneath.

James Halliday “ It is a graceful wine with a silky texture, red and purple fruits foremost; the tannins superfine, the finish lingering, the aftertaste fresh. Lovely now or in 20+ years... A clonal selection from a single vine planted in 1853, the subsequent plantings necessarily relatively young, but firing on all cylinders.”

James Suckling "This has some ripe redcurrant and plum-pastry aromas with an edge of camphor, violets and blueberries. Sappy aromas with hints of tar, iodine and bergamot, too. There’s a very intense core of dark-plum flavor, as well as a band of chocolate fondant. Smooth-honed and very intense. As suave as it is powerful. Drink over the next two decades."

Ray Jordan, The Wine Pilot "There is something special in this highly individual wine. It comes from a single one-hectare vineyard that was created from a single shiraz vine which was grafted to create a distinctive clonal vineyard. The wine is extraordinary. There is dark super saturated concentration of plush opulent fruit. Dark plum and prune juice with grainy resiny tannins add support. It also has a slightly chalky ironstone character that provides definition and direction towards a very long finish."

In early 2021, leading global publication Wine Enthusiast included Hewitson in its top 10 list of “Vineyards Behind the World’s Most Famous Wines” alongside heralded blocks in Burgundy, Champagne, Piedmont and Napa Valley.

Australian Wine Companion "Established in 1998 Hewitson winery is situated in the heart of the Barossa Valley on the historic Seppeltsfield Road and boasts some of the oldest vines in the world. Hewitson fruit is sourced from historic, dry-grown vineyards in the Barossa Valley and also from single site vineyards in Eden Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills."

Frederick Wildman "Dean Hewitson founded his eponymous winery in 1998. He is a highly respected Australian winemaker ...Hewitson has worked at wineries in Australia, France, Italy and Oregon. Hewitson then moved to the U.S. where he earned a Masters from UC-Davis. On his return home, Dean brought a wealth of knowledge, practical experience and a driving passion to produce wines not only from Barossa Valley but also from the McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills regions.

Hewitson fundamentally believes great wines are the expression of the soils they are grown in and the season in which they are grown. With his longstanding focus on terroir—specific terroir plots in fact—many of Hewitson’s wines are single vineyard. He sources grapes from not only his own vineyards but also from long-standing grower contracts including a few sourced from some of the oldest living, still productive vines on plots that date back to the mid-19th century and are pre-phylloxera. His ‘Old Garden’ Mourvèdre is a single-vineyard wine, whose vines were planted in 1853 in Barossa Valley and are reputed to be the oldest Mourvèdre vines in the world. Hewitson’s ‘Miss Harry’ is sourced from a Grenache vineyard planted in 1880, also thought to be the oldest Grenache in existence.

Due to Hewitson’s education and experience in Australia, California and France, Hewitson wines combine Old-World traditions with New-World fruit purity. And while he clearly excels with Rhône Valley grape varieties, Hewitson also produces award-winning Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. A practitioner in solar energy, water recycling and encouraging natural biodiversity, Hewitson produces wines in an environmentally sustainable fashion."

James Halliday "Dean Hewitson was a winemaker at Petaluma [one of Australia's leading wineries] for 10 years, during which time he managed to do three vintages in France and one in Oregon as well as undertaking his Masters at the University of California, Davis. It is hardly surprising that the wines are immaculately made from a technical viewpoint. Dean sources 30-year-old Riesling from the Eden Valley and 70-year-old shiraz from McLaren Vale; he also makes a Barossa Valley Mourvedre from vines planted in 1853 at Rowland Flat, and Barossa Valley Shiraz and Grenache from 60-year-old vines at Tanunda."

The Barossa Valley is an extremely important wine-producing region within the Barossa zone of South Australia, particularly associated with powerful red wines from the red wine grape variety Shiraz. A prestigious and internationally renowned region, it is not only home to some of the oldest vineyards and wineries in Australia but produces some of its most recognizable and sought-after brands. A striking feature of the Barossa Valley's wine landscape is the presence of very old vines, proudly showcased on many wine labels and during vineyard tours.

Shiraz, also known as Syrah is a popular red wine. Though the spiritual homeland of this red grape is France, Syrah has been planted throughout the world to great success. It expresses itself differently depending on the climate, soil and regional style.

Syrah is typically bold and full-bodied, with aromatic notes of smoke, black fruit and pepper spice. Stylistically, it can be round and fruity, or dense and tannic. And in warmer New World regions like Australia, Syrah is most often be called Shiraz.

Winemakers who work in cooler-climate growing regions, both in the Old World and New World, tend to call their wines Syrah. The most famous examples come from the northern Rhône Valley of France, notably Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. In the New World, in regions like Sonoma Coast, California; Yarra Valley, Australia; and parts of Chile, the wines are called Syrah because they emulate the leaner, acid-driven, savory styles of the Old World French classics.

Shiraz tends to come from warmer growing climates, namely the South Australian regions of Barossa, McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. Stylistically, these wines are lush, fruit-forward examples that embody the warmer, sunnier climate. Shiraz is so important to Australian viticulture that it is the most planted grape variety in the majority of Australian vineyards and has become virtually synonymous with the country's wine regions, and in particular the Barossa Valley.