2018 Penfolds RWT Bin 798 Shiraz (Barossa)

Opaque ruby. Dark berry liqueur, fruitcake, toasty oak and vanilla on the deeply perfumed nose. Coats the palate with sappy black and blue fruit, mocha and violet pastille flavors and vibrant mineral nuances add lift and back-end cut. Fleshy and deep but lively as well thanks to a spine of juicy acidity. Finishes on a youthfully tannic note, displaying sharp focus and superb persistence. 95 points

Sourced only from the Barossa Valley, RWT is aged exclusively in French oak, giving it two major points of difference from the rest of the Penfolds range. Always a sexy, voluptuous wine (and admittedly a personal favorite), the 2018 RWT Shiraz ratchets that up to new heights in a great Barossa vintage, boasting layers of berry-like fruit, refined vanilla shadings and baking-spice notes, plus more exotic elements like star anise and cocoa powder. It`s full-bodied and plush without being unstructured in any way, with a lingering, complex finish and the concentration to age two decades or more. 98 points