There is a great evolution at play with the Longview Yakka Shiraz, from brute to butterfly. It’s like watching an awkward kid growing up, but in reverse, starting out as something chunky and McLaren Vale red-lite, to now the mid-weight and vibrant ‘Syrah’ it was meant to be. Great fragrance this year – purple mulberries, peppercorns, a little pepper spice and then a really quite elegant, mid-weight, purple fruit-endowed palate with a little bitterness, driven by spicy blackness and pithy stem tannins. Great work – it sits in the perfect ripeness zone of a modern cool Adelaide Hills Shiraz, AND it’s well-priced.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: now to a decade easy
• Score (out of 20): 18.5
• Score (out of 100): 94
• Alcohol %: 13.5
• RRP (in $AUD): 30
• Winery website: https://www.longviewvineyard.com.au/
• Would I buy it?: sure would