Shaw Vineyard Estate Merlot 2014

Canberra Merlot. Now there’s not a pair of words you see together often. This is surprisingly serious too. Dominant coffee oak, backed by a meaty, mushroomy and ripe palate of quite firm proportions. It’s too ripe and too oaky, complete with a dollop of sharp acidify to finish, but the weight and intensity here are genuinely next level considering most Aussie Merlot. You’d almost swear it was propped up by Cabernet. Best drinking: Now to ten years. 17/20, 90/100. 14%, $28. Would I buy it? A glass.