What a great word archetypal is. Although it’s one of those words that annoying wine writers like me use, but most normal humans would never put in a sentence.

‘Yeah, Matt is the archetypal builder now he has a Ford Ranger’.

No one says that.

Anyway, archetypal is how to describe this Yangarra Ironheart Shiraz 2019, which is everything you’d want in a McLaren Vale Shiraz – a big, chunky, mid-palate driven Shiraz of real flavour volume.

Now, Ironheart comes off Block 15 on the Yangarra property, which has ironstone gravel soils. Power of suggestion, but I can see the ferrous ironstone here. Plush purple fruit, but compact in a warm year style (rather than open and juicy) if a little drying at the edges. That purple fruit volume is proper flagship-level stuff – a flow of Ribena and plum, with thick cut tannins, a kick of alcohol warmth and chew through the finish.

Long, powerful and mouthfilling, this is an impressive Shiraz.

Best drinking: go now or in a decade. Your choice! 18.7/20, 95/100. 14.5%, $125. Yangarra website. Would I buy it? Well worth a bottle.