2016 Meshach Shiraz

Named after Meshach Burge, great-grandfather of Grant Burge, who began the family’s winemaking in 1865. 100% Shiraz from old vines, the majority of which exceed 100 years of age. Hand-harvest. Fermented in stainless-steel and concrete open-top fermenters, with a small proportion of whole bunches. 20 months in 37% new oak hogsheads, with the remainder in two- to four-year-old hogsheads. 77% French and 23% American oak. Barrel selection for the final blend. TA 6.76 g/l, pH 3.67, RS 2.95 g/l. Deep black-purple. Evident chocolate and cocoa notes from oak, with an underlying spiciness of the grape itself. Underneath the layer of oak is a brooding density of baked blackberry and damson fruit. That concentration is very evident on the palate, where there’s plenty of volume and weight, coating the fine tannins and carrying through to a multi-layered finish of spices, dried liquorice and cocoa. This certainly puts its icon credentials forward though it is far from an over-extracted fruit bomb. A finely executed example of its idiom. (TJ)