Bremerton Best Of Vintage (BOV) Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

We are right to be cynical about the free-wheeling use by some producers of terms like reserve and best of vintage, but the proof is always in the pudding . . . or, in this case, the glass. The Bremerton BOV is one exceptional and exceptionally well-balanced wine. Deep garnet-purple hues. Sweet spicy scents meld with riffs of dried herbs, against a wall of dark fruits, black plum, loganberry, blackcurrant. Opens warmly, a spice-laden, black fruited carpet of delight, a big mouthful of flavour that runs long, but this is not to suggest it’s unwieldy. Quite the opposite, there is plenty of tannic cut and thrust to bring balance, enough to keep it going for some time to come. It would be a little premature to open now. A wine for the cellar.