Enormously flavoursome with rich fruit characters of black cherry, plum and ripe berries. American oak adds nuances of vanilla, cigar box, coffee and toast. At release, the wine has a concentrated ruby red colour with a dark purple hue to the edge. The wine has concentrated layers of violets, liquorice, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, mocha and creamy vanillin aromas. Very rich and reminiscent of liquor cherries in rum & raisin ice cream.

The wine is rich and complex with layers of flavour and a creamy, mouth filling texture. Dark berry fruits combine with mocha and vanilla spice flavours from high quality oak. The fruit and oak weight create a multidimensional palate balanced by good zesty acidity bringing freshness and great length of flavour. This is a very elegant wine with textural complexity and long, persistent flavours.

"With 2018 a strong vintage down under, this wine wears it well. Plush yet high-toned currant and plum-fruit characteristics are followed by a sanguine note—like iodine—along with cedar, mint, pencil lead and a seaweed, umami-like nuance. The mouthfeel is distinctive: tannins like sandpaper but the fruit silky and tangy. There's power here but drinkability too. Cellar for several years for added complexity or crack open now with a roast lamb or similarly comforting cold-weather cuisine."
Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast: Buying Guide 94/100