13.5% alcohol; screw cap; 94+++ points

She’s been sitting here for a week now, and I’ve still only managed to drink her down to the top of the label, while I’ve waited for her to show the slightest sign of breathing. Hardly any change. This wine will live for twenty or thirty years. 2006 being the coldest, slowest, latest Margaret River vintage in forty years, one might expect such royal disdain from this revered vineyard. It’s very clean cherry-plum-raspberry sort of pinot at this stage, after a week, just as it was after a day. Maybe it’s developed a little beetroot; a little tabac. It’s after the extremely plush patent leather style, rather than the silk then velvet: a rather mysterious raven in a tuxedo and Bal a Versailles, by Deprez. Musk. Dried apple. She’s got Kahlua on her breath. Stunning sweetness of fruit and perfectly poised, neck-turning tannin. It’s like thanks I’ll move along and then wha-???And you realise there’s wickedness afoot if you’re extremely patient, remain very well behaved, and certainly don’t fidget. It’s one of those wealthy spunks John Singer Sargent painted. She’ll take you when she likes.