I took one whiff of this Zema Estate Family Selection Shiraz 2018 and thought, ‘Well, that’s large’. Then I spotted the 15% alcohol on the label, which made sense. This is a very lush, diffuse, but not unimpressive dense Coonawarra Shiraz. There’s some regional choc mint savoury fruit in here, but the ripeness has also been turned up pretty high, and it lurches towards fudge and drying tannins/alcohol as you go along. It’s a bit much for me, but a pretty solid, chunky, chocolatey mouthful. Heck, it could be Barossa Cab. That said, it’s not a bad wine – just a little OTT.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: nowish and for another decade until it dries out
• Score (out of 20): 17.5
• Score (out of 100): 91
• Alcohol %: 15
• RRP (in $AUD): 49.99
• Winery website: https://www.zema.com.au/
• Would I buy it?: not really