Shiraz Balhannah, Shaw & Smith 2023

Blackberry, plum, grilled meat, a char siu pork thing here, plenty of spice and pepper, brazil nuts, dried flowers. It’s medium-bodied, distinctly saline and savoury, black olive rolled in dried herbs, meaty too, has a mix of red and black fruits, a grainy sort of sooty feel to tannin, a boysenberry freshness to acidity, with a nutty and spicy finish of excellent length, pulling quite dry and grainy to close, with a light amaro bitterness and subtle rubbery reduction. A very adult style of Shiraz, also quite charismatic with it. Very good.

Sourced from Block 2 at Shaw & Smith’s Balhannah Vineyard — close-planted at 5,500 vines/hectare and planted in 2005. The north-facing block sits over loam and clay with ironstone, quartzite and shale running through the subsoil. Hand-picked and hand-sorted. Aged for 14 months in 500–600-litre French oak barrels, 15% new, followed by a further 14 months in bottle. There’s a northern Rhône sensibility from the outset — savoury lashings of black olive in brine, black and pink peppercorn, cured meat and garrigue hovering over dark cherry and snapped twigs. There are flickers of smoky mezcal and menthol beneath, along with some whole-bunch-derived stemmy notes. Very alluring. On the palate there’s a burst of bunchy tones, black olive again, dried herbs, blackberry, smoked meat, dark cherry. The tannins are firm and assertive, putting a corset around the fruit, but they’re also ductile and long, drawing the savoury and fruit mix to excellent length. An exciting Shiraz — not shying away from savouriness and firm structure while still imbued with a sense of elegance and grace.