Caillard, Mataro, Barossa Valley

Very enjoyable wine. Excellent flavour and lovely smooth mid weight texture.

As for January. A bit rusty looking. Tannins have softened out. Authentic sort of country wine with spicy, rotting strawberry flavours. Perhaps a fraction past peak but enjoyable. Drink up.

{screwcap, 14.2%} A bit of brick at the rim. Auction buy, so storage might be dubious, as the nose suggests. Rather leathery and ‘generic old wine’. Leather, rotting strawberries, some chocolate. All very warm climate with only a hint of rustic though. Hint of volatility though. Warm on the palate, medium weight, with evolved blue fruit flavours, following the nose, plus a lot of dusty grape skin tannin, not overly oaked. Nice even palate. Mature now, decently rural sort of …

{screwcap, 14.2%} A little fading at the garnet rim reveals the age of this. Vibrant nose, with rotting strawberries with a rustic touch interleaved with quite strong vanilla oak. The palate is full-bodied, rich, sweetly-fruited and juicy, with spice and sweet compost. Oak is more flavour than tannic structure, although less present than the nose suggested. Medium acidity, but does rather sit on the front palate. Low/medium, diffuse dusty tannins. Seems a bit less than the sum of its parts …