Sourced from 2 disparate vineyards, one in the heart of McLaren Vale and the other in Clarendon. The shale of the latter confers a violet perfume and mineral pungency, melding sumptuously with ample coffee-bean oak, medicinal lozenge scents, blackberry and Dutch licorice strap. This is a big wine – almost pushed past its limits – bound to lots of toasty oak that serves to tuck in the seams.(NG)