Curtis Small Batch McLaren Vale Grenache Shiraz 2020

There is an intriguing dichotomy here. The labels tend to suggest that these wines are fresh and fun. Pricing suggests something more serious. Are they mutually exclusive? The grapes, from 80-year-old to 120-year-old vines, were gently destemmed and cold-soaked for two weeks, before fermentation over a further two weeks. Gentle pressing into a mix of new and 2-year-old French Oak barrels. The colour here is a deep red/crimson. Aromas move through bay leaves, chocolate, mulberries, raspberries and coffee grinds. There is then a supple texture plus a lingering finish with soft and silky tannins – the palate is impressively refined with good balance throughout. Delicious drinking, but a wine which suggests some early complexity and a long future, at least six to eight years; well cellared, considerably longer. Perhaps they are not mutually exclusive.