Profoundly flavoured, gentle and savoury, this effortless young Rhone-inspired shiraz reveals a deep, heady and exotically spiced bouquet of dark berries, cherries and plums laced with scents of violets, black pepper and fragrant, fine-grained oak. Long and smooth, it glides effortlessly down the palate despite its intensity, delivering an exceptional depth of wild, brambly fruit and newish oak underpinned by pliant, powdery tannins, finishing with a persistent core of fruit and a mineral note. Tasted in February 2025, it’s beginning to show some development, deeply scented with vibrant red fruits, licorice, roasting tray notes and potpourri. The palate is effortlessly long and pristine, finely polished, long and savoury. Pure class.

One of the finest shirazes yet made in Australia, this is a landmark cool climate wine. Wild, musky and faintly meaty perfume of deep, lustrous black, blue and red berries lifted by profound floral scents reveals nuances of cedar and animal hide. Medium-bodied, it’s densely packed with pastille-like flavours of cassis, blackberries and dark plums, extending smooth and velvety down a tight-grained and slatey spine, building intensity towards a long, seamless finish of mineral and savoury qualities. Extraordinary. Smooth and generous but supremely elegant, youthful and harmonious. Very youthful. Tasted as a ten year-old in February 2025, I can say I called it right. It’s youthful and seamless, steeped in fruit and spice, all packaged into an elegance and layered charm that stamps it as Grand Cru class.

It’s not often I find myself reviewing a shiraz that really thinks it’s a high-end pinot noir. That’s what I’m doing here, although – like many a pinot of great breeding – this wine will build depth and structure quite dramatically over the next 5-8 years. Its musky, faintly mocha-like bouquet of smoked duck, dark cherries, raspberries and redcurrants is laced with earthy notes of Puer tea and exotic spice. Long and luscious, with a plush core of mouthfilling black and red fruit, it extends long, supple and seamless down a tight-grained, drying and dusty spine that is certain to become firmer. It finishes with remarkable drive and savoury complexity. This is something very unique and special. Revisited in Feb 2025, it’s still youthful, developing slowly, and it is till not showing what it will ultimately reveal.