Geoff Merrill Reserve Shiraz 2016

Here is Merrill at his best. This was a small vintage after a dry winter, but the resulting fruit concentration has contributed to wines of deep intensity. Love this wine with its bag of riches on display first with bright plummy mulberry fruits on the nose and then on the rich and textured palate with its dark chocolate, toasted coffee and savoury meatiness. It has had some oak. Plenty. In fact, 29 months in new and seasoned French and American hogsheads and puncheons. But over oaked – no way. Merrill is a master of using oak over long periods and this is a masterful wine.