Four jolly decent reds, enough to warm the coughles of most punter's hearts, two of them: the 2013 Rose Kentish Old Vine Cab Shiraz and the 2015 Patritti JPB Shiraz a gift from our esteemed member
@Rug and the other two: the 2014 Maverick Ahren's Creek Shiraz and the 2013 Clarendon Hills Brookman Cab Sav, from my own modest cellar.
The Rose Kentish possiby a bit more restrained than the other three (contrary to what I've read online) but the lingering consensus is that it is smooth as Michael Klim's bald pate and as luscious as a platterful of squashed boysenberries, a favourite blend from yesteryear, I think Cab Shiraz is worthy of a reboot as the balance acheived here is sublime.
The Maverick Ahren's Creek is a tad more elegant than other Maverick releases I've tried, more savoury and less full-throttle fruit-cluster bomb, not that I'm adverse to that level of profusion. It probably could have done with a longer lie down in the woodshed but I think the time was ripe as was the fruit.
The Clarendon Hills isn't giving me cassis and minty notes to any large degree, more accurately I'm getting tart plums along the lines of a satsuma and a touch of kentish cherry built on a large frame that roams far and wide, I think the Brookman will cellar for a considerable time yet before unveiling all its virtues.
The JPB from Patritti is drinking exceptionally well (as Rug had promised) and fruit both red and black are in the driver's seat. Soft and complex but with a firm and commanding core (think of a maypole of gentle tannins with streamers of bold fruit flavours swirling around it). Emminently slurpable, it might be a good long-term cellaring proposition but sometimes you've got to give in to the urge...
Oh and all under cork, with not an issue among them that I could detect