Deep ruby colour; shiraz, plus brandy spirit from one of the Rutherglen eastern “outliers”;  rustic label, but from a wondrous year in the region. Red liquorice, mingled Christmas cake spices, milk chocolate, bursting with vitality, and fine, chalky tannins.

A careful decant was necessary to remove some  of the heavy deposit, and its a slightly old-fashioned style, where the spirit is a bit prominent and the sweetness is slightly overdone. But we’re not all clairvoyant, and this 24 year old wine provided an overload of drinking pleasures, and another 10 years will not diminish its enjoyments.

Drink to 2025, 91 points