The Hedonist Amicus Reserve Shiraz 2022
$80, 14.5% alcohol, screwcap, McLaren Vale.
This smooth-skinned shiraz comes drenched in bold, black berried fruit flavour. It tastes of roasted plum, black cherry, vanilla, peppercorn and toast, and while firm-ish tannin serves to structure the wine as a whole, the fruit, oak, acid and tannin all feel harmonious and indeed seamless. There’s a lot of wine here but it all feels impeccably well controlled. 94 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.
