2020 Penfolds Red Blend “Max’s,” South Australia

Plum core with strawberry brightness at the rim. Notes of graphite and heady varnish to the fore. A distinctive blue-fruited elegance and gorgeous cranberry sweetness. An aromatic kaleidoscope of vanilla sponge, cannoli creaminess, asphalt, wet slate, juniper and pink peppercorn. A salinity – perhaps best described as salted plum? Coolness/flowing texture. Spearmint tea (fresh leaves) and lavender. Graphite from the nose continues as a theme on the palate, Black olive tapenade. Ylang Ylang, powdery-style tannins that are tapered on the palate. All clearly converging to a well-defined point.