2019 The Factor

Generous and plush, with milk chocolate accents to the wild blackberry and huckleberry core, with details of caramel, palo santo, tobacco, sage and red licorice. Gains complexity and intensity on the long, dense and velvety finish. Shiraz. Drink now through 2035. 165 cases imported.

- M.A.W. (10/2022)

This is quintessential Barossa. The red dirt in the ground rises up in the glass and transports me right back there: middle summer, hot, spicy air blowing across the tops of old vines. It's evocative. This 2019 The Factor is Port-y, concentrated and savory as all hell, with charred barrels, lamb fat, black pepper, salted licorice, pomegranate molasses and aniseed. This is about as big as I can cope with and still enjoy it; it takes density and intensity to a whole new level—no surprise for the vintage, the region and the producer. A perfect storm of thunderous strength. Like staring into the abyss . . . a little bit scary, but transfixing nonetheless.

- Erin Larkin (09/2022)