"Barossa Valley shiraz. French oak. 64% of the oak is new though all of it is a year old at most. This is also titled Bin 798. I’d imagine that this is French oak as coopered in Australia, rather than the absolute real deal, though I’m happy to stand corrected.
It’s warm, plush, ripped with aniseed and sweet, dry herbs, both toasty and resiny, and creamy-smooth to the touch. It’s powered essentially by rich ripe plum and saltbush flavours though soy, sweet spice and peppercorn notes find voice too. RWT always delivers a lot of fruit and oak flavour and it does again here (emphasis on the latter), but there’s something about the formation of tannin that just doesn’t make me swoon. The tannin here is well balanced and integrated but it’s not A-class framing; the best tannin reaches back and pulls the palate with it, whereas here it feels too finish-focussed. That said, the flavour on offer is pretty immense." - Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front
