Colour
Dark red with a purple core.
Nose
Ascending florals, primarily violet (laced with pepper) harmoniously project alongside wafts of white chocolate/cocoa powder.
Fruitfully aromatic – easily identifiable red-currant and satsuma plum, with fleshy harder-to-reveal cranberry/elderberry/mulberry.
Scents of cedary French oak and pink peppercorn/spice artefact aligned with pan scrapings/balsamic – such a ‘glaze’ possibly derived from its Penfolds élevage/racking regimen.
Palate
No overt barrel-ferment characters apparent. Perhaps swamped by depth of fruit (black cherry), mocha, chestnut, aniseed and other derivatives?
A spoil of charcuterie delights, primarily cold meats (‘raw’/carpaccio), shadow the more reticent panforte and cola notes that ever so slowly appear with aeration.
A textural leaning towards velour/satin – a veneered smoothness, rather than a plush or penetrating mouthfeel – allied by velvety, rather than grainy tannins.
Unmistakably Shiraz / Barossa / French oak, albeit in a 2014 RWT taste / flavour / structural package!