In true Elena Brooks fashion, only the non-stop creativity and creation of wine can sate her passion. Here the ripe and bold fruit has been matured in a mix of French and American oak for 18 months. From an excellent vintage the luxuriousness of Barossa unfolds, blackcurrants, inky fig skin and cassis. Sweet Nyon olives, grape marc, sweet sage and thyme bush. There is a snap of acidity and tannins and meltingly plush. The light and dark of attentive fruit and savoury mediterranean herbs makes for a very pleasurable wine. This is just beginning to hit its straps and will continue to tick over those clove, dark cocoa nibs with some more time in the cellar. Its drinking very well now and has another 5 years ahead of it. This calls for beef cheeks with a glossy beef jus.

This wine is sourced from some of the best vineyards in the Barossa from a superb year. It's perfect for drinking in the short to medium term but has everything you would expect from a wine to sell. Surprisingly medium-bodied, it has a deep concentrated fruit richness within the palate. The colour is a blackish reddy purple, and the nose picks up nuances of plums, dark cherry, spicy nutmeg characters, olive tapenade, and fragrant florals. The super concentrated palate has deep dark fruit with vibrant blackberry and plummy notes typical of Barossa Shiraz. It's a balanced and poised wine, providing a delightful example of both the vintage and a modern statement of the Barossa.

Barossa Shiraz will surely remain eternally popular thanks to wines like this. From a spectacular vintage for the region, this has it all – generous and approachable now, but a wine which continue to age majestically for many years.

This is completely opaque, very dark red on the rim. The quality of the vintage is evident from the first sniff/sip. There is plenty of oak still here, still in the process of integration, but those with a modicum of patience will be well rewarded. That said, this is probably a wine which will be enjoyed more by those for whom oak is very much a plus. There are notes of chocolate, animal fur, licorice, soy, axle grease, cold tea, cloves and blackberries. A seductive palate with a seamless structure, very fine tannins and impressive length. Enjoy this over the next ten to twelve years.