Hello Vicar!

Chapel Hill The Vicar Shiraz 2008 (Mclaren Vale, SA)
14.5%, Screwcap, $50
Source: Sample
www.chapelhillwine.com.au

They’re doing good things down there at Chapel Hill, crafting modern – yet not flashy modern – wines of substance and regional swagger.

Lots of Mclaren Vale goodness with this Vicar Shiraz too (in the best possible fashion). Opulent, black forest cake fruit/oak nose, lots of mid palate richness, genuine fruit tannins and persistence a go-go signals this as a wine of super high quality indeed. A vintage triumph even. There’s still a dip of that figgy, strained fruit desiccation on the nose, a reminder of just how annoyingly hard the year was, but it’s not enough to be a distraction (though I think it won’t be as long lived because of it).

In Vale terms this is absolute top end. If you consider yourself a Vale Shiraz man/woman then get on board a bottle of this – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 17.9/93