Yalumba's 2016 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz is a Barossa-based blend of 53% Cab and 47% Shiraz. Aged in a mix of barriques and hogsheads (28% new), it offers up scents of cherry, cassis and tobacco, with grace notes of cedar and vanilla. Medium to full-bodied, it's concentrated, silky, streamlined and long on the finish—very much a classic claret style despite the high proportion of Shiraz. Each year's edition of the wine is dedicated to a notable Yalumba employee; the 2016 is dedicated to Chief Winemaker Louisa Rose.

A very youthful vintage, this is taut and will age very well. Aromas of blackcurrants, tar, blackberries and baking spices lead to a palate that has such an intense, gently smoky thread with a succulent, juicy red-plum, berry and spice finish. Light espresso. Super long-aging Signature here. A blend of Barossa cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. Try from 2024.

Cool summer and autumn nights tempered warm days in 2016, producing great intensity to the iodine and espresso-edged nose and palate here. With silky blackberry and currant, fleshier mulberry and refreshing blood plum, the palate is motile, its juicy persistence a foil to the creamy, savoury oak (French barriques, Hungarian and American hogsheads, 28% new) and dynamic snare of ripe but present tannins. A fitting tribute to Yalumba’s chief winemaker, Louisa Rose.

Very deep, dark colour with a good tinge of purple. The bouquet is very rich and ripe, laced with smoky oak, the very ripe blackberry aromas of warm-grown cabernet shining through strongly. It’s very full bodied and lavishly-endowed with supple tannins, sweet fruit and chocolaty density. The finish lingers long. Oak is evident but in good harmony with the bouquet and palate. A powerful, concentrated, very ripe wine for this label, and high-class. Both shiraz and cabernet are clearly perceptible. A long-term wine that is already approachable.