A super-smart buy, with kaleidoscopic spicy lift of black and white pepper, star anise and cinnamon to the bramble-fruited nose and palate. Saturating acidity and a raft of fine but textured, immersive tannins make for a dynamic, buoyant mouthfeel. Tapering and super-fluid, the elegant finish features spicy pimento, green peppercorn, with meaty and graphite/granite ndertones. Harvest ended on 7 May.

Beautiful, perfumed aromas greet from the start, cherry and dark plum with a spicy raspberry nuance. The palate is medium bodied and elegantly presented with those cherries and blackberry flavours emerging with a little sprinkle of pepper and dried herbs. The oak is well-weighted with the fine chalky tannins in support.

It's spicy and well fruited but mostly it's an exercise in putting all the various components exactly where they should be. Everything here feels exact, and exacting. Red cherried fruit, black pepper notes, integrated cedar oak and drifts of assorted florals, all of which hone to a long, peppery finish. It's mid-weight at most and it's all it needs to be. This is the kind of wine that gives elegance its good name.