HANSCORE: 20/25 

👃🏼  The nose starts out a littlew closed, but opens up into a lovely mix of cocoa, chalk, and ripe blackberries.

👄 As hinted at previous, the mouthfeel is enormous. 2016 was the secodn year of drought in a row for Botriver, and the subsequent concentration is noteworthy. There is masses of black fruit; blackberries, sugar plums, blueberries… but they’re all kept upright by lovely spicy white pepper on the tail.
For all I’ve said the size of this wine, the tannins on the tail appear relatively sedate, but perhaps only because they are so comprehensively supported by the concentration of black fruit. 

🔬 Fruit from Botriver. Punchdowns were all done by hand (Of course they were, Niels, you mountain of a man, you!) The wine was fermented in a combination of stainless steel tanks and small, open fermenters. A small portion of stalks was added back  to add a little spice. Aged in 30% new oak, with the rest being between 2nd and 6th fill.