The Harewood Estate Reserve wines are always big. Impact. Lusciousness. Sometimes it’s great; other times, there is way too much everything for grapes from the cool part of WA. This Frankland River Shiraz spends two years in new and one-year-old oak, and it tastes like little else but oak – it could be from anywhere warm, which defies what Frankland is about. Milk chocolate, chocolate-coated plums, mocha, berried warmth. There’s some lovely mid-weight fruit hiding under there somewhere, but this remains a winemaker’s plaything. Smooth though.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: now and for decades. Not falling over with that oak propping it up
• Score (out of 20): 17
• Score (out of 100): 90
• Alcohol %: 14.5
• RRP (in $AUD): 50
• Winery website: https://www.harewood.com.au/
• Would I buy it?: a glass