Jack Estate M-R Series Merlot 2024
$15, 14.5% alcohol, screwcap, South Estern Australia.
This ticks a lot of boxes. It tastes of plum, liquid toast, earth, loganberry and mint, with dark bitter chocolate notes hovering around the edges. It’s juicy, slightly sweet, slightly earthen and gently savoury all at once. It works. 89 points.
Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.
Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.
