It’s the longest day of the year, and Julian and I are enjoying a glass of this together in Dunedin, New Zealand for no reason other than, well, we wanted to.

I got a sniff of this and squealed “oh, FRUITY!” Of course, that was a gross oversimplification; after a few more minutes, it started heading down a more oaky, yet still hugely Australian path. Good stuff. Gorgeously mouth filling and fairly well oaked (and yet still within reason), this is an exuberantly huge Aussie red that somehow doesn’t strike me as particularly Canberra in any way. Of course, I only know from Lark Hill and Canberra – and maybe that Kamberra stuff, not sure if that was really Canberran – but whatevs, this is delicious.

And here’s the bit where I transcribe some Julian: Pain grillé, he says, but I think he’s actually joking about one of last night’s wines.

Really dense red fruit, sort of clove-y, spicy oak. Kind of a slightly sappy edge to it as well, he thinks. So, in the mouth it’s quite bright and medium-bodied… structure seems quite acid-driven, fairly tannic here… he really likes the depth of the flavour profile. It’s not a huge flavour profile, but it has really nice depth and is sort of layered nicely. There’s also a really nice, sustained line through the after-palate, really consistent, quite a long wine as well, he thinks.

The awesome thing for me of course is watching Julian drink this – it’s always fun to watch someone caught up in the moment of enjoying something. And of course, it’s extra fun if you haven’t seen your mate in a few years.

That’s it for now, I’m off to finish the bottle while there’s still daylight (another thirty minutes or so, I’m guessing).