JM 1ST APPROACH

... It's moody, glowering wine. But it's not pouting behind any curtain: it slides around your mouth like Eartha slid across the salons and dance floors of Paris, and, daring to mention smell, it has the faint reek of polished parquetry. All the nightshades, the blackberry vines, the black cherries and olives, the whiprod acidity sit smugly in this athletic panther's frame, and it leaves the mouth dribbling for more as that black wildcat tannin seems strangely to take the form of an African cobra.

So there, it's also got a snake. Part Eartha, part black panther, part cobra, it possesses you and sucks your blood dangerously close to the surface of your kisser. Breathtaking. 95++ points Philip White

Excellent crimson hue; a rich and luscious medium-bodied wine that is a good example of what McLaren Vale is all about, presumably picked before the heat; plum and blackberry, and touches of vanilla, mocha and chocolate; very soft tannins. Rating 93 points James Halliday - Wine Companion 2011

Has a fair bit of lift but lots of life. It's ferrous, briary and full of blackberry and choc-licorice but has a lovely savoury umami flavour at at its core - sort of like soy sauce or beef, yet it's neither of those exactly either. A bit tannic and rustic, yes, but because it's not sweetened or adorned with too much tricky oak, its rugged charm and personality shines through. Too many (and often Australian) wines lack the sense of 'authenticity' that's on show here, for which it receives a bonus point. Give it some air, and a decant...and for heaven's sake don't serve it too warm. Rated : 94 Points Drink : 2011 - 2018 Gary Walsh - Winefront