Purple Palate

Originally Madiran region in France's South West, Tannat is today the national grape of Uruguay. Now the team down at Massena, who've experimented succesfully with a number of obscure varietals, reckon it belongs in the Barossa too. Thier version is impossibly dense to look at, with an impenetrably dark centre and a beetroot-juice rim. The nose is infested with raspberry, liquorice all-sorts, grape must, and quivers of the darkest Robusto coffee. The palate is lively and mouth-coating, full of fresh, sticky, sweet berries reminiscent of home-made jam. Dewy forest leaves are there somewhere too. Unctuous, soft tanins give every mouthful an inherently chewable quality. -NT