Curator Seppeltsfield Vineyard Shiraz 2023
- 96
- $65
- Drink by: 2025-2040
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Always a superstar from the range, the Seppeltsfield vineyard which provided the fruit here was planted in the mid-1950s. A wild yeast ferment with 20% whole bunches, the wine was basket pressed into a mixture of American and French oak, 15% of which was new, for maturation for a year and a half. Under Diam. Just 2,100 bottles were made. This is black as evil. There are big, bold notes of chocolate, cold tea, mocha, blueberries, plums, blackberries and cassis. The oak integration is immaculate. The palate is plush, balanced, very long and simply gorgeous. This is intense but it dances. Stunning stuff, the focus is laser-like, with silky tannins on a lingering finish. There are hints of morello cherries which emerge on the palate. Love it. A fifteen year proposition.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
