In these days of ever warmer seasons, cooler sites are coming into their own, exemplified in the warm summer of 2018 across South Australia. In that year, merlot had been thriving in Mike Press vineyard for 20 years and gave birth to the finest hes made yet. Lifted violet fragrance and crunchy blackcurrant fruit define varietal identity rarely found at any price in Australian merlot, let alone at the princely sum of $14. Its exactingly and unashamedly medium-bodied, a celebration of great fruit precision, elegantly and sensitively backed by 12 months maturation in a mix of American and French oak barrels. The structure is crafted as much on vibrant Adelaide Hills acidity as it is on medium-grained tannins, uniting to promise a tremendous future in the cellar. – Tyson Stelzer