Maybe it’s not the ‘cleanest’ shiraz but in general you’d have to say that it’s a beauty. There’s more to wine than the technicalities. This is sweet and full-bodied but complex and savoury. Drama up front but it then leads you through a complex narrative. Both SC and cork in excellent form, to my tastes

From fruit sourced from their partner Graham Warner’s vineyard about 3.5 kilometers down the road, the 2008 Warner Vineyard Shiraz is co-fermented with about 1.5% Roussanne. The grapes get a bit of a cold soak before the fermentation begins naturally with a 3-4 week maceration period on skins. “We’re aiming to make wines with tannins and backbone without overly sweet fruit,” Rick explained as we tasted. Deep garnet-purple in color, this wine has intense aromas of crushed blackberries, violets, red roses, red licorice, black pepper, some game / hung meat, allspice and mocha. With medium-high acid and a high level of very fine tannins, this concentrated yet elegant, medium to full-bodied Shiraz has a long spicy finish.