Tokar Estate Tempranillo 2018

Yarra Valley Tempranillo? Now there’s a rarity. It works too, though that could be the touch of Martin Siebert, who has turned around Tokar Estate into ‘One of Those Wineries Where You Like Everything’.

Great colour too – vibrant berry purple-red, like a cross between Hunter Shiraz and a joven Rioja. Lifted berry fruit on the nose that’s quite pretty and perfumed, pushing the Rioja comparison out the door. This really dances through your mouth, all sarsaparilla and plum. Beaujolais with dark fruit and tannins. Those tannins are real too.

Energy, if maybe too pretty to be compelling. Nice drink though. Best drinking: over the next five years. 17.5/20, 91/100. 13%, $30. Would I buy it? Worth a few glasses.