Shows a very strident, oak-driven nose with cedar and spice that’s overlaid on ripe blackcurrant, red plum and cherry. Pepper and cocoa powder, too. The palate has a sinewy feel with intense summer berries and plums, as well as strong blackcurrant character. Curated to a brazen style with strong tannins. A blend of 53% cabernet sauvignon and 47% shiraz, matured in American-oak hogsheads (300 litres - 25% new). A blend of Padthaway, McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, Wrattonbully and Barossa Valley.

Saturated garnet. Pungent, spice- and smoke-accented scents of black and blue fruits, licorice, violet, coconut and smoky minerals. Juicy and impressively concentrated, offering intense blackberry, cherry-vanilla and bitter chocolate flavors that become sweeter and more lively with air. Finishes smooth and impressively long, with repeating blue fruit and spice character and harmonious tannins that add shape and gentle grip. All American oak, one-third of it new. (JR)

Rich, succulent flavors of wild berry are ripe and plush, but there's terrific restraint here as well, with cedary tannins and an element of palo santo, along with tobacco, dried herb and green tea notes that are firm on the finish, as more grace notes reveal themselves. (MW)