This Tapanappa Whalebone Cab Shiraz 2016 sure packs in flavour, but it would be more compelling if it was less ripe.
85% Wrattonbully Cabernet and 15% Adelaide Hills Shiraz (from the Shining Rock Vineyard which Brian Croser founded in the Petaluma days). It’s deep, thick and coffeed, the palate drenched with dark chocolate flavour and a thick, cooked berry middle.
A huge wine, of considerable impact, with thickset fruit and chocolate oak at every turn. There’s a sense of savouriness and unquestioned length and breadth, though it’s treacly on the tail and alcoholic, the finish burning off some regionality in the process.
I can see the vision of this red, can feel the inensity and taste the quality of the fruit and oak. But the volume knob is just a bit high…
90 points
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