Petaluma 1996 Coonawarra April 05

From the first sniff, this is not only recognisable as quintessential Coonawarra, it is quintessential Petaluma. The bouquet is beautifully varietal with warm, ripe, sweet fruit showing blackcurrant, tomato leaf, a hint of cigar box and flinty notes. Still showing the masses of youthful, primary fruit the mouth is filled with intense multiple berry flavours, chocolate and tomato leaf. A muscular-weight wine with loads of everything; the drying, chewy tannins which finish very long still need ages to integrate and the wine is still years away from its best. Interestingly enough, Halliday rated this wine 89 points and a drinking window of 2001-2006, whilst Oliver gave it a rating of 95 and an original drinking window of 2008-2016 which he now changed to 2016-2026. When I tasted it, I thought it was a 20 plus year wine and rated it as Excellent.