Marchard & Burch Villages Shiraz 2021

Two old friends, Pascal Marchard from France and Jeff Burch from Western Australian, founder of Howard Park, combined to produce and release some very fine wines from the West, under this label. Their ‘Villages’ range is to “focus on the regional influence of climate and site on varietal expression”. This release is from Great Southern fruit. The colour is a purple/garnet. The expressive nose weaves through mulberries, plums, spices, licorice and cherries. Everything is finely balanced and there is even a whiff of peppermint plus fine tannins, which are quite abundant over a long finish. There is lots to like here and balance is key. It has a good six to eight years ahead of it. Good value.