Chateau Tanunda 150 Year Field Blend 2016

98 POINTS

Sam Kim - Wine Orbit

Immensely complex and majestic, the wine shows dark fruit intensity with seductive nuances of charcuterie, dried herb, dark chocolate, clove and cedar on the nose. It’s substantial and opulent on the palate, exhibiting exceptional depth and multi-layered mouthfeel, while remaining refined and harmonious. Symphonic, engaging and thought-provoking.

97 POINTS

Nick Butler - The Real Review

Dark plum colour in the glass. It's imposing and forceful when swirled, intense berry and plum fruits - quality, toasty oak - loads of moving parts. The palate is intensely-fruited: red, blue, purple and black berries, all tamed by that beautiful French oak. Built to live decades. An excellent wine.

96 POINTS

James Halliday - Halliday's Wine Companion

The field blend is of interplanted grenache, mourvedre and malbec. The clear, crimson colour is a good omen, and the wine is indeed very good. There is a balance between plum, blackberry and black cherry within a framework of French oak and tannins. It's only medium-bodied, but its balance should ensure a long future, the only uncertainty the cork.

94 POINTS

Joe Czerwinski - Wine Advocate

Like most of the 2016s I tasted from Chateau Tanunda, the 2016 150 Year Old Vines 1858 Field Blend shows its alcohol a bit on the finish. Thankfully, this wine has plenty of positive attributes. The aromas boast subtle oak shadings, but also red berries and savory notes of black olives, roasted meat and dark mocha. Full-bodied and supple, it's silky and fine rather than thick and plush, with plenty of length and substance. Drink it over the next decade.

93 POINTS

Huon Hooke - The Real Review

Deepish red colour with a tinge of purple, and a bouquet that seems a little closed and reveals toasted-nutty oak, clove and dried herb overtones. The palate is rich and lush, concentrated and firm in supple tannins, with impressive presence and persistence. There's good concentration and fruit-sweetness followed up by lashings of drying, firm but balanced tannins that bode well for cellaring. The aftertaste is strong on licorice and star anise, and it doesn't lack alcohol warmth. At this price, it would be crazy to open it too soon. Cellar!

90 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

When I popped the cork Mozart’s Requiem started playing out of the bottle. Or something like that. The back label has some breath-taking copy on it, indeed, some of the most virtuoso on the market, but not any detail as to what the blend (field) of grapes is. Of course, it has been grenache, mourvedre and malbec in the past. It’s a thick and rich, decidedly powerful red of chewy tannin, potent, dark fruit character, tarry-charry-spicy oak and a general sense of lavishness. The perfume is a rich fog, flavours palate staining, it rumbles over the palate and gives a shock and awe experience to a drinker. Fruit quality and personality seems distinct, but so is oak seasoning (heavy) and the wine finishes tart acidic, sherbetty and lemony (almost fizzy with that), pinched and a little too shrill. More upfront fruit characters are inky, choc-berried and lush. Perhaps time will resolve some of the quibbles, but it’s on the table now, and commanding attention for where it sits in the upper echelons of Australian fine wine.