I am opening this 2006 Penfolds RWT Shiraz with some trepidation. It is after all the French oaked baby brother of Grange, and I have mainly enjoyed lighter wines during these hot summer months. Also, we are still in the dusk of the Robert Parker period.
The colour of this wine is deep purple, no orange tint yet. Blackberry and liquorice notes dominate the intense experience on the nose.
On the palate, a very complex flavour profile develops. The fruits are predominantly ripe blood plum, mulberry and blackberry. But then there are savoury flavours of tar, charred meat, liquorice and mocca. I taste the vanilla from the 70% new French oak hogsheads. This is a very concentrated wine, built like a house from bricks. The wine is fat and sweet in the core. I find the tannins from this Northern Barossa fruit quite coarse and matching the fruit weight. The finish is long and holding up the wine's complexity.
This is a good wine, but a bit much for me at this time of year.
Score: 95/0
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