Savitas Wines Incygnes Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2018

You know you are in Barossa Valley territory with this wine when you see the label of a GSM blend sporting mataro over the more recent popular adaption Australia-wide of mourvèdre. They’re the same grape. Mataro – believed to have its nomenclature origins in Spain – has been the traditional term used in this part of the world since the 1960s or earlier, and it’s good to see it thriving on labels. Winemaker Matt O’Leary goes for size here with a most generous 15.5% alcohol-based red that he matured in French hogsheads for 18 months.

It’s good to go right now, chock-full of ripe black and stewed fruits with a deep recess of dark chocolate, heady sweet spices, earth. A touch old school Barossa that could easily have blown out and lost structure, but is saved through some even-handed tannins, finishing rounded and warm. Will suit those after a rich, hearty winter red over the coming months.