Chapel Hill

The Vicar McLaren Vale Shiraz

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  Vintage 2018
  95 points Halliday Wine Companion

Machine-picked, destemmed, crushed, open ferment with neutral cultured yeast, 19-21 days on skins, basket-pressed, maturation in French oak hogsheads (25% new) for 21 months. There is a certain style to The Vicar that one might call dark and inky. Brooding, too. Maybe it's the role of oak, maybe it's in the sourcing of fruit from Chapel Hill's best growers, or in the hands and mind of the winemaker, but it's one intense drinking experience. Black throughout, licorice, the full spice rack and Vale savoury earth. Pronounced tannins are there of the journey ahead.

• 

  Vintage 2018
  91 points The Real Review

Deep, dark, dense, glass-staining purple colour. The bouquet is a little reserved but has subtle graphite, cocoa powder and dark chocolate, the palate is chewy and thickly-textured with a density of tannins. There's some chewiness in the tannins. Concentration is undoubted but it's a bit unresolved. More time neededDeep, dark, dense, glass-staining purple colour. The bouquet is a little reserved but has subtle graphite, cocoa powder and dark chocolate, the palate is chewy and thickly-textured with a density of tannins. There's some chewiness in the tannins. Concentration is undoubted but it's a bit unresolved. More time needed?