JM 1ST APPROACH

The new 2010 Basket Pressed Shiraz is finally here. A glass full of vibrant berry and cherries upfront with those savoury descriptors that though sounding odd, (tabacco leaf, dried spices, roast gravy reduction), add that all important complexity and interest that all your favourite wines seem to have. Good vintage, great wine.

The best vintage of Joshua ever, might I suggest? A pretty wine with its floral top notes, but also one of depth and exquisite balance. Raspberry, blackberry, baking spice and earthy bits – plenty to sink your teeth into here. It’s medium bodied with an uninterrupted flow of flavour, a smooth web of fine tannin and a very long finish. So satisfying. Textbook Barossa GSM blend stuff. 94+ points WIne front.com.au

The palate is full bodied but refined with some expressive berry fruit, plums, liquorice and complex spicy oak. There is a great depth of fruit which will ensure the longevity of the wine and also gives it wonderful mouthfilling sensation. The tannins are velvety and combined with the rich fruit and spicy oak gives the wine great length of flavour.

Full crimson-purple; co-fermented with a small percentage of viognier, and matured in (roughly) one-third each new, one-year-old and two-year-old high quality French oak. It is a style I have always liked, its supple mouthfeel, generous black fruits and soft tannins coming together with the oak in a harmonious finish. 95 points James Halliday

Disciples of this fabled label will fondly recall the precision of 2004, the concentration of 1990 and the savoury appeal of 1987 and 1989. 2010 encapsulates all there is to love about this blend: density of black  fruits, light-footed elegance, vibrant, lively, cabernet-led fruit lift, lingering violet perfume and finely textured tannins.” Wine Taste Tyson Stelzer, Mar 2012 94 points