Yalumba The Octavius Old Vine Shiraz 2019
- 96
- $160
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The fruit for this wine comes from five vineyards in the Barossa, with the oldest vines dating back to 1854. A classy, elegant and poised Shiraz that unfolds beautifully in the glass. Bacon fat and cedar make way for dusty blackberry and dark plum before the emergence of nutmeg and black cherry. A good swirl of the glass unlocks a lovely graphite mineral underlay furthering the complexity along with earth, cocoa and ground coffee. It all comes together with air, making for a complex melding of fruit and savoury notes. The palate is buoyant and vibrant showing notes akin to the nose. Blackberry, cedar, dark plum, graphite, and nutmeg glide high through the mouth with nothing cumbersome nor out of place. There’s gorgeous structure to this wine, with a black fruit drenched acid line working with ribbons of chalky black tea tannins to a long, elegant close. A beautiful wine that will only get better with a long rest in the cellar.
Tom Kline is a wine writer, reviewer, presenter, and educator based in Victoria, Australia. He is the Australian correspondent for the internationally respected publications Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy and Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux, where he highlights the top tier of Australian wine for a global audience. Tom also writes for leading outlets including Decanter (UK), Wine Spectator (US), and Halliday Magazine, among others. An experienced wine show judge and WSET educator, he has authored several consumer-focused wine courses aimed at making wine more accessible and engaging. In 2023, Tom was awarded Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column at the prestigious Wine Communicator Awards, presented by Wine Communicators of Australia.
