David Shaw

9.1

New vintage, yummy blackberries and, er, tobacco. Becoming a favorite. After 30 minutes, a healthy dose of fine-grained skin astringency emerges. Tangy or slightly tart on finish, with plenty of mouth-coating skin tannins. Worth decanting a couple of hours — 6 days ago

Michael Malpiedi

9.1

Savage! Lots of fruit even on day 3. Sheesh — 2 years ago

Will Stanley

9.4

Over my birthday at the beginning of July I had Covid, by far the worst consequence of which was losing my senses of smell and taste. I’ve heard some horror stories from people in the wine trade experiencing this and not fully recovering, which for the past two years has terrified me (I had avoided Covid until now). I’ve had Chablis and Bordeaux (in a restaurant) in the past week, both of which didn’t smell of much and had oddly metallic tastes. Other things I love - such as coffee - have started to taste and smell better in the past week, so I was anxious whether my enjoyment of wine might have been restored. I also felt that only at home, in a controlled and familiar environment, would I be able to fully attest one way or the other.

I’d been wanting to try Duncan Savage’s flagship red since buying a case of the 2018 over a year ago, a 100% Stellenbosch Syrah from one of the Cape’s most exciting winemakers that received glowing reviews from prominent South Africa critics Tim Atkin and Greg Sherwood. A quick note: no, after more than a fortnight, my sense of smell is still pretty poor, but this wine was v enjoyable nevertheless!

From the nose, I was still able to appreciate subtle aromas of fresh blueberry, lavender, bacon fat, ground pepper and warm earth; really textbook Syrah, an utterly intoxicating smell that whets one’s appetite for grilled meat.

The palate is complex, with saturated cranberry & blueberry, dense with high acidity at this youthful stage, and plucky but very fine tannins, and a lasting finish.

What this wine must really taste like, when one’s senses are firing at 100%, I can only imagine! Really, really impressive stuff. I’m delighted I have a case and can’t wait to try it again - maybe in a few weeks’ time 😅🤞 94+ — 2 years ago

David Shaw

9.2

Revisiting the vintage — 3 months ago

David Shaw

9.1

Last bottle of vintage — 5 months ago

Aloke Mukherjee

9.0

Christmas 2022 — 2 years ago

Emily Salles

9.5

High acid and pear, a little spicy (cilantro?) and slightly effervescent — 3 years ago

David Shaw

9.2

Revisiting the vintage — 5 months ago

Neal Ferry

9.0

Extremely Nice — 6 months ago

David Shaw

9.2

Dense purple red, medium to high pigment extraction. Plum, cherry and black currant aromas. Rounded cherry flavor with lengthy, almost syrupy mouthfeel. Decanting should bring out additional flavors, including plum and cola. Spearmint and black pepper aftertaste. Nice layers to this one — 2 years ago