I feel like this wine is ever so slightly corked. I know I know I know there are those of you reading this who believe there’s no such thing as slightly corked but, I do. And anyone who has dranken wine with me know I am the FIRST person to call a wine corked. But this wine seems beautiful on all areas but just keeps popping this odd vague nuance in the nose that feels like it’s possibly slightly corked and then it just explodes into your beautiful rich fruit and tertiary. So throw the baby out with the bath water, I don’t care, I’m going to enjoy it and try to look beyond. It’s dusty and dank, beautiful nose with each swirl cascading rich cherry compote along with ridiculous savory, salty beauty, But the fruit feels a bit shut down–clue #2 of a corked wine. These are usually rich and decadent behind the obvious structure, and this one has tons of that: amazing acid burning hard down through chubby nectar, all coalescing to bitter dryness forever in the finish. Rash and abrasive–as these older 28’s always are–alongside smoky oak and ever-so-slight decadence. It’s a beautiful wine, but I’m gonna go with slightly corked. Most will see this as merely tertiary shining through and drink it with great aplomb, factoring the flaw into *age* and going on and on about how *patinaed* it is. A large group will also argue I shouldn’t even be reviewing it, but here we go instead. This is the complexity of wine. I have several more of these and will look forward to the next for relevance.

2017 PENFOLDS Bin 28 ‘Kalimna’ #shiraz Australia 14.5