My junk photo does it no justice, but this Cape Barren Rare Bird Shiraz 2018 looks and feels like a $150 McLaren Vale Shiraz.

The little postcard-style label ala Bass Phillip and the heavy bottle/wax top exude fanciness (a bigger photo on the CW Wines website, FWIW), which is as much a part of the flagship recipe as anything. Speaking of recipes, this was matured for 24 months in French and American oak, and it tastes like oak barrels in that heady, sweetened bourbon way. Although the oak is pretty sumptuous, it’s like a flashback to early-noughties South Australian excess. The wine still looks youthful – plums behind the wood. Acid is jaunty, though, and when you peer below the surface, the balance isn’t there – it’s a wine of oak-enriched texture and laid-on-thick-flavour, to the point where the less-ambitious Old Vine Shiraz is on a par for ultimate balance. Power and impact, with high-class packaging, undoubtedly, but $150? I can’t justify it.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: now and anytime over the next decade
• Score (out of 20): 17
• Score (out of 100): 90
• Alcohol %: 14.5
• RRP (in $AUD): 150
• Winery website: https://www.capebarrenwines.com.au/
• Would I buy it?: no