There appears to have been a bit of excitement about this winein some quarters, so I bought a few to look at.
Dark red. The nose on this is quite subdued: some blackberry and a yeasty/vegemitey trace with it, some vanilla peeking through and a trace of black pepper. The palate? Beautiful juicy berries, red and black, more of that pepper and and spice, and I can see where others gets clove and milk chocolate. Dusty, slightly piney oak, quite fine tannins, top class length, and a touch of alcoholic heat on the back palate. Not an overripe, overweight jam monster at all, enough complexity to be interesting and enjoyable. A perfect winter drink.
I got the same heads up you did about this wine. It's good. It's not a table thumper though. 91 points seems about right to me. It might be a grenache thing too; it just doesn't seem to provide the absolute excitement as a stand alone grape that others can.
Ive heard scores of 86 to 95 for this wine, from people who I think use the 100 point system the same way - the low score comes from a Grenache lover and the high score from a confessed non grenache lover. maybe theres something in that? Horses for courses I guess. Great glugging stuff anyway,
