Schild Estate Shiraz 2012

Opaque purple. Sexy oak-spiced black and blue fruit aromas are complicated by suggestions of woodsmoke and vanilla. Plush and open-knit, showing good heft to its cassis and blueberry compote flavors, with a peppery quality emerging with air. Closes sweet and long, with soft tannins building slowly. This approachable, fruit-driven shiraz was aged in a combination of new and used French and American oak hogsheads. Score - 90. (Josh Raynolds, vinousmedia.com, July 2014)