Wolf Blass

Grey Label McLaren Vale Shiraz 2013

• 

  Vintage 2013
  92 points

Feels like this is the more successful Grey Label 2013 release by some distance. Drinkability is on this wine’s side. McLaren Vale over Langhorne Creek is an argument over a bottle or two too. I’d side with the former, for pedigree at this price point, but hey, what do I know? Inky colour in glass with bright garnet rims. In the wild, that suggests big wine with hedonistic bent. In the glass, whiffs of choc-cherry/choc-berry, vanilla, anise, black olives, warm earth. Tannins tidy up the richness of fruit flavour in the palate. It shows good pep and energy, drives well through the mouth, saturates the palate with dark fruit, spice, sweet wood notes and chewy webs of tannin. Glossy, well-meshed acidity keeps the wine firing, even if the finish is a touch spiky. Good.

• 

  Vintage 2013
  94 points

The fermentation was completed in new and used French and American oak, followed by 18 months maturation in those barrels. Deep, dense crimson-purple, this complex, medium to full-bodied, mouthfilling swag of black fruits, creamy oak and ripe tannins, needs time to back off, but will deliver on its promise.