Kaesler Alte Reben Shiraz 2023

In case you’re wondering, Alter Reben is the German for old vine, and this is a single vineyard Shiraz from Kaesler’s Marananga vineyard, which was planted way back in 1899. It’s a thoroughly beautiful wine. The colour is deep red with some purple hues. And the aroma is an exotic combination of spices, dark plum, and a little liqueur chocolate with a red-fruited lift. The palate is certainly not brutish and has the black fruits and slightly minerally graphite-like character threading throughout. It’s a powerful wine and the use of new and seasoned French oak for about eighteen months has been really neatly handled. Drinking so well now as a result of that balance, but it does have superb aging potential.