"The Peake" is an American (Chris Carpenter)'s ode to the classic Aussie red blend. 2017 was a fairly cool vintage and it shows here. More elegant, lucid and fruit driven than the '18, this may not age as long but it's drinking pretty darn well now. Notes of cherries, blueberries, licorice, violets and Chinese five spice are wound in sappy, savory tannins that have lovely texture and integration. A powerful but harmonious wine that should age gracefully until 2035.

Inky magenta. A deeply perfumed, oak-tinged bouquet evokes black and blue fruit preserves, cured tobacco, incense and mocha. Alluringly sweet and expansive on the palate, offering concentrated blackberry, cherry-vanilla and bitter chocolate flavors braced by a core of smoky minerality. Finishes impressively long, with strong, spicy thrust, a resonating vanilla note and round, slowly building tannins.