Mollydooker Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz 2020

Appealingly dense and toothsome, offering dark chocolate-covered açaí berry and pomegranate flavors, with notes of palo santo, wild blueberry and vanilla anglaise. A touch of French press coffee lingers on the finish. Drink now through 2030. 6,502 cases made, 2,387 cases imported.

This 2020 Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz is a fascinating wine to me, in that it offers everything that I might find challenging in one glass (high alcohol at 16%, prominent American oak and volumes of generous, abundantly concentrated, extracted fruit), yet it does so in such a way that I end up appreciating the construction and the execution despite my stylistic preferences. It's a smart wine. On the nose, there is toasted coconut (American oak fermentation and elevage), chocolate-coated raspberries, licorice bullets, lamb roast, star anise and resinous char. In the mouth, the fruit plumes over the palate and blankets the mouth in flavor. Cushioned, pillowed and very intense, the alcohol provides warmth and density through the finish. Drink it in the short to medium term to capture the vibrancy of the fruit.