Geoff Merrill Reserve Shiraz 2017
- 97
- $65
- Drink by: 2026-2041
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Like many of the wines in the Merrill stable this is very good value. A barrel selection, the winners are blended and returned to a mix of new and older American oak. Dark maroon with a blood red rim, this is big and ripe and rich. Oozing aromas of chocolate, coffee beans, cassis, plums, cocoa beans and mocha, the wine is seamless, soft and seductive. There is great length here through to its silky tannins with everything immaculately balanced throughout. It still has another ten to fifteen years ahead of it. Love it.
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.
