Produced only in excellent years.
On opening the cork crumbled sending panic through my heart and mind.
Thank Bacchus the wine God, the wine smells sound and the tannins are still evident. In the mouth, there is solid dark fruit showing signs of age as you would expect.
Slightly meaty and musky aromas of dark berries, along with black violets if that is at all possible. All are backed by persistent broad-grained oak that follows through on the nose and palate.
The wine offers palate-staining fruit, blackberries, and dark plums, moving into meaty animal flavours.
As unappealing as all this sounds the wine is sound and has great interest with its bramble-like fruit. The initial palate is sound and complete however I find the wine to be dense with dark berries offering great power and dark fruit characters that become a little overpowering after an hour.
Unfortunately, this is not the elegant Hunter Shiraz I was expecting as it has remained rather big and gutsy.
I opened a bottle Xmas day only 4 years ago 2020 and I remember it to be elegant with incredible fresh ripe fruit, with years ahead of it.
I enjoyed this wine with the famous Albert Park hamburgers. Sometimes it feels good to drink a smart bottle of wine with a damn good burger.
Michael Lillis
