Penfolds Grange Bin 95 2017

Only the 7th Grange ever made with 100% Shiraz. Dark chocolate coats ripe blueberry, vanilla hovers above, as does a sense of smoke and darkest berry – and then the chocolate appears again alongside nutmeg. The palate then dives into generous, ripe, juicy fruit before bold, tight, muscular, flexed, fine tannins take a hold and assert themselves relentlessly. There is so much personality here. Leave for a decade at least and drink until 2060.

Cuddly doesn’t quite conjure the command of Grange but it was the first word to spring to mind. It was only later that I realised that it was 100% Shiraz. It feels it. It’s a grand display of this most come-hither of varieties. Big fruit, big texture, big arms of tannin, and soaring length. It tastes like ants squashed in a rolling wave of super-saturated plum, roasted vanilla riding the wave, soy and rust slipped within. It’s as complete an Australian shiraz as you ever will taste.