You get the sense that Black Label is given it all; lots of attention, high quality fruit, great vineyard resources and deft handling from winemakers Sarah Pigeon and Sue Hodder and co. This is another stellar release, a benchmark Australian cabernet in a style that rings true to expectations of ‘Classic Coonawarra’.

MB: Svelte, taut and tannin shaped, a superb wine of bold aromatics, dark berries, plum, new leather, mahogany and sage leaf characters, with flavours that echo that bouquet but dials in graphite-like minerality, a lick of malt and that swish of lacy yet firming tannin. Has a sense of darker, more brooding inkiness that some past releases, but the lift of freshness, an almost mint-and-botanical-like lick to acidity, has the wine in a-grade vitality. Totally in form. Wonderful again. 94/100

CM: It’s an approachable Black Label though its cellaring future remains assured. It’s approachable because it’s so well balanced. The weave of cedarwood-and-choc oak through blackcurrant-and-mint fruit is impeccable. The fruit is neither bright nor dull; it’s sit in that comfortable mid zone so often inhabited by the best of the more traditional wines. I sat with this wine for a few hours and the tannin, fine-grained, just kept on spreading out, tide-like. Perhaps what I loved most about this wine though was that, for all its sweet, ripe fruit, it remains true to its tobacco-and-herb varietal roots. It’s quite lovely; I’d buy it in a heart-beat. 93+/100