Stephen Brook: Opaque red. Sweet, ripe, cherry-pie nose, blackberries, with fruit in charge, leaving the evident oak as a grace note. Broad, lush, opulent, juicy, masses of fruit, and very concentrated. Kirwan has its detractors, but I find this a complete and satisfying mouthful of fruit, with enough zest and intensity to keep it interesting. The tannins are certainly very fine, and there are no rough edges. It has the merit of being delicious, which is one of the purposes of wine. Good length. 17

Andrew Jefford: Dense, dark, opaque black-purple. Warm, sweet, full, complex, lush, and coffeed. Close-textured. Lots of work here has given much to detain the assiduous sniffer. Slightly disappointing on the palate after so many aromatic layers. This is a bit of a gallimaufry, with fudgy sweetness, brusque tannin, and edgy fruit all competing for attention. I hate to criticize hard work, but one feels that, given the ripe fruit, a slightly simpler vinification approach would have paid dividends. 14

Michael Schuster: Very ripe, sweetly oaky nose; good-quality ripe fruit dried by its oak tannin; a good, soft, delicate fruit core rather pinched for the moment by its very dry wood texture. Not sure how it will develop. 2013 on. 14.5