Bannockburn, Shiraz, Geelong

Old, estuarine, unpleasantly blue-berryish. I see Keith Cooper came up with the same score on what I suspect is also a recent UK TWS purchase.

very plump texture, cooked plums and pretty ripe. Peppery, smoky reduction lifted and very detached from the wine at first but got increasingly integrated over time. Lacking either acid/ tannin structure to balance out the plump fruit, bit flabby.

Old-skool Aussie Shiraz. Dark, rich, spicy. Some Musar-style funk on the nose. Full palate with lots of ripe but slightly dusty blackberry and cassis fruit. Some red fruit notes as well. Quite (fully?) evolved with little in the way of tannin. An enjoyable blast from the past.

Tasted at home with friends in a tasting of 8 wines to explore "Does Aussie Wine Age Well?" Our evening concluded with a vertical tasting of the Bannockburn Shiraz, vintages 2022, 2013 and 2011. The idea was to experience how this wine would evolve from a young vintage to the older vintages. 2022 - this was good, predictably young, with ripe fruit; a big mouthful of dark berry fruit, full in the mouth and long finish. Very good, but needing …