We thought you might like a baker's dozen reds which are all inside of their ideal drinking window - so here they are! That said, these will also continue to improve for some time... so there's absolutely no rush to drink 'em.
There's medium bodied, spicy and easy drinking Cab here, aged Frankland River Shiraz, black fruit and spice '22 vintage Barossa Shiraz and a lovely, cedary Clare Shiraz from 2017. All drinking beautifully! The 13th bottle is Lone Palm's Hillside Shiraz, a 96 point, $120 a bottle stunner. Decant and drink it now over a couple of days.
96pts Sam Kim, 96pts Kim Brebach, 94pts Winepilot, 93pts James Halliday, 93pts James Suckling, 93pts Real Review.
Another delicious release of Hillside Shiraz from low yielding vineyards in Marananga, old vines from Stonewell, planted to the R6 and 1654 clones. There’s old vine fruit from Greenock, the vines so old that the clonal selection is unknown. Matured in a combination of new French and older American oak, this is a stunning Barossa Shiraz offering black fruits, blue fruits, blackberries, coffee, graphite, chocolate, minerals, liquorice, spice, blueberries, cedar and firm tannins.
92pts Ray Jordan, 93pts Kim Brebach, 90pts Sam Kim
Frankland River is one of the most remote wine regions on earth and produces glorious Riesling and Shiraz. We tasted this exceptional 21 and bought as much as we could get our hands on. There's blue fruits and spice, The fruit is medium bodied yet powerful, the finish spiced and coated with plenty of lovely, fine, trailing tannins.
Made From: Frankland River Shiraz
Aromas and Flavours: Blue fruits, spice, fruit intensity, fine tannins
Drink if you like: mid weight and bright rather than ponderous reds
92pts Ken Gargett, 92pts Sam Kim, 92pts Kim Brebach
A rich, expansive morass of relaxed blackness, herbed with mint and splintered with cedar. Dive into a T-Bone, pull the ring on one of these, settle back and enjoy.
Unmistakably Cabernet on opening, this nonetheless grows in stature, fruit intensity and generosity as it breathes. Black tea, carob, cacao, blackcurrants, and violets emerge on the palate, and those aromatics become wonderfully complex, offering florals, and red and black fruits. So, no danger in cracking and enjoying a glass straight up, but you'll get even better results if you decant.
A polished Shiraz from a single high-altitude vineyard, picked at optimal ripeness and matured for a couple of years in mostly seasoned oak. The oak plays a subtle role—contributing texture rather than dominating with cedar, though there’s a hint of that too. Deeply flavoured with black and blue fruits, spice, and impressive concentration. Harmonious and seriously delicious.
