Hare’s Chase Lepus Shiraz 2020

This is the prestige Shiraz from the team’s top vineyards in the Barossa. Under cork and with the heavy bottle – who knows how long that will persist as the trend is very much towards lighter examples. This is a very dark maroon hue and still coming together, but this has endless promise. The nose reveals notes of black fruits, warm earth, truffles, chocolate, soy and aniseed. The wine is rich and intense, seamless with silky tannins making for a quintessential Barossa Shiraz. A fine line of acidity runs the length of the journey, while those chocolate notes just persist and persist. Enjoy it over the next eight to fifteen years. As with past vintages, all signs point to blockbuster territory but the wine deceives, maintaining a degree of elegance. If the score is not quite at the lofty levels of past releases, it merely reflects that this is a vintage which requires a little more snoozing in the cellar. With time, it should climb.