Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Mourvèdre 2014

You want evidence of how good McLaren Vale Mourvedre/Mataro can be? Here is it is.

The key appeal remains the endless blackness. That depth of flavour which seems to just go on and on (and on). I can still remember tasting from an unsulphured, almost magical barrel of Samuel’s Gorge Mourvedre which remains the benchmark, built in a way where the flavours seemed to carry on forever.

This Chapel Hill is a little less foreboding than that reductive and super structured red, and instead carries a more fleshy, licorice and plum fleshiness (which I often see in Chapel Hill reds), plus some broadly toasty oak. Captures the varietal black jellybean fruit perfectly, even if the oak isn’t quite integrated yet.

Lots of juicy drinking here (with depth) and will only get more impressive. Really quite delicious. Best drinking: 2019-2026. 18/20, 93/100+. 14.5%, $30. Would I buy it? I’d drink a few glasses for sure.