Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz 2016

The single vineyard Magill Estate Shiraz is intrinsically linked to Penfolds beginnings. Sourced from the Magill vineyard on the edge of Adelaide’s eastern suburbs (just eight kilometres from the city’s CBD), fruit is crushed, fermented and matured on-site at the original Penfolds Magill Estate Winery, established in 1844. Magill Estate Shiraz, first produced in 1983, is an elegant, medium-weight style with velvety texture and fine tannins, matured in both French and American oak. It is a sleek, contemporary wine, yet crafted the original way: hand-picked, vinified in open fermenters and then basket pressed to complete fermentation in barrel.

"Deep, bright red/purple colour. The bouquet is disarmingly attractive with blueberry, blackberry and raspberry nuances, background vanilla and chocolate, the palate soft and supple, rounded and silky-smooth, with fruit sweetness and fine-grained tannins in perfect balance. A stunning wine, elegantly-framed and deliciously drinkable now, although it will undoubtedly age well. Full-bodied but far from being a blockbuster. Hard to resist now. Huon Hooke 96 Points"

I have so much history with this wine that I’ve now blocked it on Facebook. I jest; the point is that I bring a deal to the table before I’ve lifted the first glass. It’s single vineyard and special and unique in the Penfolds line but more than anything it’s a festival of oak. It wears a t-shirt with the words HISTORY IS YESTERDAY’S NEWS emblazoned on the front. Actually no it doesn’t. It’s more like BE SOMEONE ELSE. This 2016 though is bold, brilliantly red/black fruited (a gobful of red licorice, inter alia), sloshed with creamy, resiny, vanillin oak and quite desperately impressive, despite itself, and despite me. I thought I had it covered and in a clinch it threw an uppercut that I never saw coming. Lights out. It’s one of the best Magill Estate’s I’ve seen. 95+ points, Campbell Mattinson (October 2018)