Peter Lehmann, Stonewell Shiraz, Barossa Valley

A private dinner at a friend's (London, UK) : Mature but lively appearance, sombre colour; very expressive and youthful nose, fresh and glossy, spicy oak and black fruit, floral top notes, gunpowder; bright and lively palate, incredibly fresh for an 18 year old wine, perfectly integrated tannins; excellent length, liquorice and fresh fruit.

Actually quite good and aging very well No excess and still ripe fruit outlasted any tannins Very pretty

Decanted for 2 hours. Cloudy and dark brown. Nose is average with some spice and red fruits. Medium finish with slight tannins. Good drinking.

A pleasant surprise given all the negative reviews. Textbook perfect Aussie Shiraz with strong red fruit and pepper notes to start. Very well integrated tannins, and stunning purple color. Wish we had more!

Full bodied without that awful jamminess that blights so many Australian blockbuster syrahs. Opened up marvellously after about an hour - layers of fruit, some spicy overtones. Warm - i.e. a bit of heat showing through. Good long finish that tailed off neutrally. One more left and still a couple of the (for me) superior 98s to go.

Well worth the $15 I was able to obtain this bottle for on winebid.com, but starting to fade. Some nice cherry, plum and raisins. Just a little bit of heat. Moderate finish.

Extraordinary nose of mixed spice. Spice on the palate. Dark and viscous.

Pretty good. Took a while to open up. Very dense, very dark, garnet. Suspension all across the wine. Fragmented cork despite careful cellaring (have noticed this with PL, think they use cheap corks). Nose was a bit disappointing but the taste less so. Nose was classic shiraz but rather muted. Taste very full, very long, a little blanket at first but later - and warmer -offered an abundance of fruit with cherry on the end. Slightly thick and viscous. Not …

SHould have gotten to this one about three years earlier. A good wine was hiding behind its flawed condition.....