The flagship, crafted with the finest fruit from the famed proprietary sites: Old Hill, Old Paddock, Rosehill 1946 and 1965 Vines. As with the other reds in the stable, maker Adrian Sparks has lightened the structural lattices to impart greater freshness and joy. Full and plummy, the wine spent but 10 months in large-format French wood, less than 20% new. The result, almost as pulpy and vital, as it is dense and torqued. Wonderful tannins, alloyed and finely knit. A textural opus. Anise, loamy wet earth scents and flavours of sarsaparilla, clove and cardamom, too. Better after 2 days in the bottle, indicating just how well it will age. Stellar wine.

(Erin Larkin, Dec 2022) One of Australia's great red wines, the 2019 Maurice O'Shea Shiraz is concentrated and intense. It's hard to imagine how so much flavor could be packed into just one glass. And never mind that; I tasted a 2014 the other week (not old by any stretch of the imagination), and it had not moved an inch from inception, which bodes well for long-term cellaring. You get roasted lamb crust (blood, fat, rosemary, pepper, etc.), salted pomegranate, clove bud, crushed rocks, nutmeg and sandalwood. It is getting better and better in the glass, and I just know that a couple of days on the bench will not harm it. In fact, it may coax the soft core of perfect fruit from the very heart of the tannins. What a sensational wine. It will only get better for those who are patient.

Very deep, brooding colour with plenty of purple tints, the bouquet a marvellous complexity of sweet berry fruits, plums, tar, dried herbs and a hint of root vegetables, the palate sumptuously rich and fleshy, luscious depths of sweetly ripe fruit swaddled in wonderfully supple, glossy tannins, the whole entity persisting for a long time on the palate, with great harmony and a sense of completeness. A stunning shiraz.