Château Tanunda 50 Year Old Vines Shiraz 2019

This gorgeous Barossa Shiraz used here sees small open fermenters followed by gentle basket pressing and then maturation in quality French oak for two years. The team’s usual procedure is destemming the grapes, a week on skins and hand-plunging twice daily. Although the wine is named ’50-Year-Old’, some of the vines exceed that by a considerable distance. Deep red in colour, there is a mix of red and darker fruits on the nose, especially blackberries, with graphite, chocolate, warm bitumen, leather, cloves and bay leaves. Some good complexity, even at this early stage. The texture is supple and seamless with the wine finishing with delightfully soft tannins. Some very chocolatey notes to conclude. Deceptively long, the finish would simply not go away (that is a good thing, a very good thing). Loved this. A stunning Barossa Shiraz with ten to fifteen years ahead of it, over which time, expect the score to rise even further.