A distinctive and very concentrated, single-parcel shiraz that offers a rich plum and raisin nose with plenty of tarry notes and a swathe of baking spices. The palate is packed with rich, dark-plum and black-fruit flavors and the long, strong hold on the finish lasts for minutes. So intense, this is their finest Laird to date. Best from 2028.

Very deep, dark red colour with some purple tinges, almost unctuous in the glass. The bouquet is distinctively different to the other Torbreck reds: Dark chocolate, brown spices, dried flowers, freshly-turned earth and a hint of nutmeg. A wide range of spices. Mocha, dark-chocolate-coated black cherries, the palate full-bodied and quietly massive, invading the entire mouth and leaving multi-layered flavours that last and last. A lot of oak has been soaked up by this wine, but, while it certainly influences the style, it's in balance. An impressive wine indeed. (3 years in Dominique Laurent Magic casks)

From the 2ha dry-grown Gnadenfrei vineyard in Marananga. Vines are low yielding and tended by hand. Matured 36 months in new French oak barriques. Barossa shiraz on another scale, every detail exploded into larger-than-life proportions. Impenetrable black. Deeper presence of black plum, licorice and prune, more exotic old-vine spice, more smoky dark chocolate, more mineral tannin, more spirity alcohol, more coal dust, engine oil and unbridled horsepower. To achieve all this with profound persistence and consummate integrity is where The Laird leaves all other overpowered pretenders in its dust. The most spectacular monument to the sheer might of Barossa shiraz.