Curtis Ancestor McLaren Vale Shiraz 2020
- 94
- $180
- Drink by: 2022-2037
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This is one of the family’s big guns, and deservedly so. The wine spent time maturing in a mix of new and two-year-old oak barrels, both French and American. Deep garnet in colour, there is some oak influence still evident, but it is nicely balanced with rich fruit flavours. The more time you can afford the wine, the better the integration will be. Notes of chocolate, coffee beans, mocha, cassis, licorice and cloves. It also has an appealing supple texture with a fine line of acidity driving the wine plus good focus and intensity. This is a gorgeous example of the style and has avoided falling into the trap we see with some 2020’s, namely that they are too burly. This is a ten to 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.
