An excellent example of cool-climate Shiraz with dark black fruit, spice and pepper characters. The oak and tannins are well balanced ensuring that this wine is drinking well now and has plenty of life ahead.

Howard Park has joined Australia's First Families of Wine and is amassing a loyal following. From the Scotsdale vineyard site, this Shiraz mingles earthy and spicy aromas layed out before a palate displaying great concentration but supreme elegance. Black fruits, liquorice and five spice overarch layered tannins that are fine and persistent.

Bouquet of dark forest fruits, strawberries, some spice and fragrant tea smoke. The palate highlights are Cranberry freshness with the succulence of softer fleshy fruits and subtle sweet oak. Well integrated, silky tannins support a lingering opulence which is tempered by a freshening minerality on the finish.

Bright, red and dark berries. A touch of sweet spice, dense, intense fruit on the palate. Really impressive. Great balance and length.

One word - legend. Jack Mann served Houghton for a remarkable 51 consecutive vintages. His determination to create wines of intensity, elegance and regional character have inspired a generation of Australian winemakers to achieve great things. Simply one of this country's greatest Cabernets, this wine is not just single vineyard fruit, the selection process is so rigorous that often it is just a few rows from the Justin Vineyard. Such is the reverence for that great man - Jack Mann.

This delicious WA Shiraz is beautifully weighted. The lovely rich and spicy berry fruit flavours are balanced by gently drying tannins, and enhanced by light, complex oak characters. It's easy to see why this beautiful Shiraz achieved 92 Halliday points.

"Very deep bright purple-red hue; the bouquet spicy, rusty iron, as well as chocolate-coated cherries, medium-full bodied and firm with a good solid backbone of tannin, and an earthy peppery, graphite kind of mineral note, savoury and concentrated, powerful and penetrating through a long palate. Superb, and it has potential to improve further with time." 95 pts Huon Hooke, www.therealreview.com, October 22

Grape variety - 100% Shiraz. Oak maturation - 40% new and 60% older French. notes. Colour - Deep red with purple hue. Aroma - Concentrated with bacon fat, pepper, lifted florals and incense. There’s an underlying meaty-gravy complexity with balanced oak, mulberry and plum. Palate - Full with a dense texture and fine grain tannins. The palate is loaded with pepper, beef gravy, potpourri, black raspberry, mulberry and plum. A complex, savoury and elegant wine that’s more Syrah than Shiraz Food matches - Seared prime beef and roasted root vegetables or Fillet of venison with wild mushrooms. Peak drinking - Drinking well now but will show further integration over the next 8 - 10 years. Viticulture - The Home Block Shiraz vineyard comprises 0.7 ha of open lyre, minimal irrigated vines planted on ironstone gravel over deep friable loam. Judicious shoot and bunch thinning is always used to maintain a very light crop which was hand picked in early March of 2021. Harvested at 12.5º Baume the fruit exhibited intensely concentrated flavour and colour. Winemaking - The hand picked fruit was harvested early in the morning and processed straight away. 5% whole bunches, including stalks were placed into the bottom of the fermenter before filling. The remaining fruit was de stemmed into the small open fermenter with heading down board, which keeps the cap fully submerged between drain and returns. After nine days of fermentation, the fruit was pressed into a blend of new and used French Burgundian barrels. Storage and Bottling - Maturation lasted 11 months before the wine was carefully blended and bottled. Bottled under screw cap to retain freshness in a premium Burgundy bottle. Held in bottle for approximately 1 year prior to release.