Wakefield / Taylors, Clare Valley (South Australia) Shiraz 2016

 Based on its dark, dense appearance alone, I was all buckled up for a wild ride with this wine, but what results is actually an extremely civilized experience at a dizzyingly high level of quality.  The intense berry fruit aromas and flavors are edged with accents of spices, toast, eucalyptus and wild thyme…and all of these sensory signals remain balanced and evident across the entirely of the sensory experience provided by the wine, including an extremely long finish.  There’s little doubt that a high proportion of the juice here was from low yielding old vines, and based on that as well as the wine’s completely compelling performance, this is actually a very strong value even at $80.  A Platinum Award winner at the 2019 San Diego International Wine and Spirits Challenge.