Ray Jordan
98 Points – Drink 2025 – 2050
This super wine is made only in the best vintages, and this is a return after a short hiatus. It was first released with the 1955, and it has only been quite recently that it has become a more regular release. But that ’55 remains one of the fabled wines of Australian wine lore. There is a bright fresh cherry aroma supplemented with a liberal sprinkle of spices. The palate delivers with such finesse, yet as it opens it gathers momentum as it surges to a very long finish. One of the very finest in this line.
Tony Love
97 Points – Drink 2024 – 2040
While a Wynns house style is quite clear with its Old Vines Shiraz, the Michael goes to another level to express its pedigreed story as one of Australia’s finest shiraz. Best of everything, I suggest, is where it starts, including fine details intended in the oak regime with 28% new French employed. The colour is a fabulous red to purple, aromas suggesting more savoury complexities out of the kitchen herb garden. Some understanding is required to read the style which doesn’t depend on being showy at this stage but layers dark cherry with flavour-lent spices on a palate that rolls out effortlessly. Read that as supreme sophistication now, and wait for 8-15 years to see the great reveal that history tells us will invariably occur.
Angus Hughson
94 Points – Drink 2026 – 2035
The 2018 vintage has created a typically brooding Michael Shiraz that is built for the cellar. Deeply coloured it displays a powerful core of highly complex fruit – you can just inhale this wine for hours. Blackberry, olive tapenade and warm cloves with a fair dose of new oak, but it all sits in perfect balance. The palate then is more muscular but still light on its feet – dark fruits, baked earth and sweet oak with a dusting of spice wound up quite tightly by good acidity and quite significant tannins. The length and complexity are undeniable – it just needs time.
Ken Gargett
97 Points – 2020 – 2035
The one-off 1955 Michael Hermitage (as it was then) is one of Australia’s most famous wines. It was revived quite some years ago, though ran into some issues with a heavier use of oak than seemed warranted. Those days are long gone. If that was ever a concern for you, forget it. Michael has now taken its place as one of our great shiraz. For the record, the wine spends 16 months in “new (28%) and seasoned French oak hogsheads (83%) and barriques (17%)” and the fruit sucks it up with a moment’s hesitation. Black/purple in colour, the nose offers black cherry notes and black olives. Blueberries and the very best dark chocolate (think To-ak Chocolate). Sure, as mentioned, there is oak, but it enhances the wine here. The palate is supple, seamless, dense and powerful. But all is well balanced, concentrated and there is great length. The structure is faultless. At this stage, the palate has notes that are reminiscent of a strong espresso, first up in the morning. Put it away for at least the rest of this decade, or as long as you can.
