I bought this wine for a couple reasons… First of all it was under cork, and second: it wasn’t the de rigueur Aussie “14-5”. Curiosity killed the cat, eh mate? Dark black and brooding in the glass, a substantial amount of suspended grit rendering it basically impenetrable. The charming notes of heavy euc waft out of it, muddled down into dire mud and toasty, warm-weather berry concentration. At 6, the tertiary is visible, but shielded from obvious view by sharp tobacco and aged varnish, layered on decisive funk pittering about the foundation. Might benefit from a decant, but for now just breathing in the glass.

Please don’t explain to me how it’s not 6 yet.

Sharp and biting on the palate, the early burn of alcohol energized by acid and chewy structure. The vegetal is sweet and charming, an unassuming churl of youthfullness possessing attack and middle of almost *home-winemaking* spirit. Fruit is a bright sour-cherry and pomegranate pith, collapsing to more shards of acidity where tannin would be a nice touch. It’s not a powerful Shiraz: in the same way a lot of Sangioveses are not “powerful”, yet grasp their ageability and core-definition through alley-ways of acid and bite. Still, I’m not rushing out to stock the cellar with these bottles, as I see *fade* in the writing on the wall and stuffing agrees with me. There just isn’t anything compellingly pretty about this wine, and my experience with heavily-murked reds casts an asterisk on aging. I think this wine is as good as it gets. It’s a nice, easy, drinkable wine right where it’s at.

2017 NOVA VITA ‘Firebird’ Shiraz Adeliada Hills South Australia 13.5

www.novavitawines.com/