Wolf Blass Platinum Label Medlands Vineyard Shiraz 2018
- 94
- $200
- Drink by: 2026 - 2035
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A very fine Platinum Shiraz though I am not convinced it is their best ever (and this should have been a vintage where they could challenge for that).
Deep purple and opened with a complex nose. Truffles, dark berries, mulberries, chocolate, coffee grinds, animal skins. This is exhibiting more savoury notes than the cabernet and is powerful, coiled and concentrated with a gentle casing of oak. Tannins are abundant but still a little chewy. This lacks the immediate gratification offered by the cabernet sauvignon, but is still a wine with a serious future. It will be better with time and likely to be several points higher in a decade.
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.
