I often find The Laird too much of an enigma to honestly admit to understanding its game. In 2020, it is a more approachable wine to comprehend, and it also seems more convivial. While this is an awesomely balanced, large-framed wine with surprising refinement, given its scale, it has a wonderfully gregarious soul. Where once, this was a standoffish, almost pugnacious wine, in 2020, this is one of the most welcoming and open-armed The Laird of all.

www.matthewjukes.com

Intensely focused and powerful, with densely packed aromas of blackberries, licorice, graphite, olive tapenade, cured meat, roasted coffee beans and violets. The palate is full-bodied with firmly framed tannins and a deeply viscous yet refined mouthfeel that gives layer upon layer of cedar, bitter chocolate, walnuts and baking spices. Made from vines planted in 1958. A savory, powerful wine with a with a high level of sophistication.

www.jamessuckling.com

The 2020 vintage was the third in a string of dry hot years, and this was marred by disastrously low yields, owing to heat and 80 kilometers per hour winds during the flowering. The 2020 The Laird is from the Gnadenfrei vineyard in Marananga, planted in 1958. The Marananga growing area is known for producing powerful, muscular, tannic Shiraz, and I tend to find the full-throated shout of flavor and concentration to be both convincing and a little exciting. The Laird does exactly this, holding back for no person and providing no subtlety nor mystique. Tasting it, one wonders if these things are strictly necessary anyway; here, we have unbridled power and intensity, old-vine tannic thrust and a black hole of impenetrable fruit, with notes of peat, leather, peppercorns, sweet roasted meat, pan juices and forest moss. It's an iconic wine that has retained its soul and purpose over the years, decisive, distinct, potent and precise, haunting and evocative. The dry-grown vineyard has been there longer than many of the people saying it can't be done. There's something in that

www.robertparker.com