2020 The Forebear

A stunning red, dark and dense, opening with flavors of Black Forest cake, candied walnut, graphite, cigar box and oud. Details of dried violet, espresso and green cardamom pod emerge on the finish, but for all of the concentration and density, there’s wonderful purity and elegance, with the plush tannins giving this plenty of style. Syrah. Drink now through 2040. 10 cases imported.

- MaryAnn Worobiec (08/2025)

The 2020 The Forebear is sourced from the oldest plantings in the Hillside Vineyard in Lyndoch—12 rows planted in the early 1850s. For this tasting, the wine has been open now for three hours, and yet it needs more in the way of oxygen than what it currently has. The wine remains aromatically closed, with notions of black fruit, exotic spice, charry oak and forest floor. This has peat, old leather, jarrah and black cherries in profusion. The palate is shaped by intense graphite tannins, which feel closely knit and exclusively the property of old vines; they are silty and settle in the mouth—if you need a visual—like watching a pint of Guinness settle in the glass. A monumental wine, it needs space and quiet to be able to absorb the layers of complexity and undulating waves of flavor through the finish. 15.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.

- Erin Larkin (04/2025)