Geoff Merrill Jacko’s McLaren Vale Shiraz 2018

This wine is a tribute to a young cellar hand who worked with the team before sadly passing far too young. From the excellent 2018 vintage, the wine spends the best part of two and a half years in a mix of new and older French and American oak hogsheads and puncheons. Deep maroon with a garnet rim, there are gorgeous aromas here. Fully mature but with time ahead of it, the nose gives us notes of aniseed, blackberries, coffee beans, root vegetables, chocolate and cassis. There is a sleek texture, impressive length, a seamless structure and excellent balance, all through to satiny tannins. The intensity is maintained throughout. Enjoy it now or anytime over the next decade. Seriously good value.