Moppity Lock & Key Hilltops Shiraz 2022

Moppity Lock & Key Hilltops Shiraz 2022
$30, 13.5% alcohol, screwcap, Hilltops

This wine is still finding its feet, and still working towards its peak drinking days. For now it presents as a solid, spice-driven shiraz with licorice and redcurrant flavours as the main drivers but with ample peppercorn, roasted spice, sweet nut and woodsmoke characters in support. It’s dry, it’s juicy and it’s complex, the latter in the most drinkable of ways, though for now the fruit itself feels broody, like a teenager. In time it will relax and blossom. In keeping with this, the tannin here has a grainy, earthen, savoury aspect, which works in nicely with the ripe, dark juiciness of the fruit. This wine is good now but it will be even better once it’s had another couple of years under its belt. 93+ points.