Stephen Brook: Very deep red. Some stewed fruits and a good deal of oak on the nose. This Portiness may initially be appealing, but it seems too much of a good thing. Super-ripe attack, voluptuous and close to jammy, this seems overdone, and a lack of acidity doesn’t help. There’s a slight weediness on the finish, too, as though the wine is being strung out on a thread of sweet fruit and little else. Moderate length. Coonawarra? 13

Andrew Jefford: Glossy, saturated black-purple. A strange melange of almost burned black fruits plus a petrolly, kerosene-like note presumably related to fruit shading in some way. The unattractive scents of mixed ripeness, in sum: A sorting table might have helped. Much the same on the nose: very petrolly and livid, though the depth of pure blackcurrant that is hidden amid the muddle is impressive. Potentially good wine that needed a much more fastidious approach than it got. Coonawarra? But it could be either… 11.5

Anthony Rose: Mid-ruby, showing a degree of evolution in the glass; this is quite spicy and blackcurranty on the nose; the palate is showing signs of evolution, with a nice, gentle, succulent fruit quality, slightly dry tannins, and puckering acidity behind the blackcurrant fruit sweetness. An attractive style that is already approachable now but needs food to show at its best. Coonawarra? 16