Pikes The E. W. P. Reserve Shiraz 2020
- 95
- $75
- Drink by: 2022-2032
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My pick of the Reserve range, but only by a whisker. No E.W. P. was made in 2019, so this is a welcome return. A seriously good Shiraz which drinks well above the reputation of the vintage. Chocolate and cherry notes, coffee grinds, warm earth and animal skins. There is intensity and balance here, with great length. A red which sits alongside the best of the Clare with fine tannins and serious length. Young now, obviously, and with at least a decade of great drinking ahead of 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.
