Lake Breeze Bernoota Shiraz Cabernet / 2023 / 750mL

The Lake Breeze Bernoota 2023 is a Shiraz Cabernet blend from Langhorne Creek in South Australia, generous with dark fruit but held in shape by the Cabernet's firmer edges. It is a medium to full-bodied red that drinks easily now without being simple, made from 60% Shiraz and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon grown on old vines on the Follett family vineyard.

Blackberry and dark plum lead the aromatics, with a lick of choc-mint and a wisp of smoke from twenty months in American and French oak barriques. Give it a swirl and there's something leafier underneath — bay leaf, crushed violet — the Cabernet making itself known behind the Shiraz.

Fruit sweetness carries the front palate, then the tannins arrive fine and powdery rather than grippy, running through a finish of cassis and dark chocolate. Acidity is gentle, in keeping with the region, and the oak sits under the fruit instead of across it.

This wine suits lamb shoulder, a rare porterhouse, mushroom ragu or a plate of hard cheddar.

Drink it from now through to about 2033.