An excellent wine from a challenging vintage. Its deep aromas of slightly jammy redcurrants, cranberries, cassis and candied red cherries are fully but not overripe, with spicy undertones of cloves and cinnamon, plus a smoky background of creamy coconut ice-like oak. There’s a hint of spirit that is also found on the deeply concentrated and sumptuous palate, whose jujube-like berry and plum-like fruit and newish, assertive and slippery oak are neatly framed by loose-knit tannins. Its lingering core of intense flavour finishes licorice-like, with savoury and mineral notes. A richer and more profound Mount Edelstone than ever seen before, and lacking the cooked or dehydrated flavours common from this vintage, it just lacks the exceptional length for a higher rating.

A joyful, traditional Eden Valley shiraz with a touch of modern polish. Its smoky aromas of dark plums, blackberries, violets, white pepper, cloves and cinnamon overlie meaty, briary nuances while its palate is smooth, supple and fine-grained perfection. Its oak is so well integrated almost to be unobtrusive beneath its deliciously bright, focused and juicy flavours of sweet mulberries, blackberries and cassis, which are tightly honed above a fine, dusty backbone.

A classic Mount Edelstone whose heady, briary bouquet of cassis, blackberries and sweet chocolate/coconut ice oak is backed by nuances of currant, clove and cinnamon and lifted by a peppery, spicy and violet-like perfume. Long, smooth and silky, its seamless marriage of ripe, pastille-like dark plum, cassis and mulberry flavour, sweet vanilla oak and dusty, loose-knit tannin finishes long and savoury, with a lingering smokiness and minerality.

Dusty scents of white pepper and dried herbs are lifted by ripe aromas of mulberries, cassis, blackberries and fresh cedar/vanilla oak and reveal a whiff of coconut. ItÕs supple and elegant, smooth and gentle, with a luscious, if indeed jammy expression of small berry flavours, sweet oak and smoky, meaty notes underpinned by dusty, fine-grained tannins. It finishes with a soft acidity, but remains just too jammy and lacking in length for a higher rating.