Clos Otto 2006 Shiraz SAMay08 will sell for $90 when it is released at the end of July and is sealed under cork. This is a fairly young vineyard. It was purchased by Hentley in 2004 and they made their first Clos Otto in 2005. In 2006 it cropped at 1.2 tonnes to the acre. It spent 12 months in brand-new oak and at its first racking it was put back into more brand new oak, where it spent almost another 12 months. This wine is bizarre and defies logic, and I say that in the nicest possible way. It's impenetrably black. The bouquet has a huge amount of complexity and sensational fruit aromatics with loads of vanilla bean, cinnamon and spice. The strong, deeply-seated fruit has a colossal intensity and delivers plum, chocolate, vanilla, mocha, blueberry, morello cherry, and coffee. There is a mighty amount of complexity here; how much of it comes from the oak I can't tell. The wine is 16.8% alcohol and shows no sign of heat. The acid, surprisingly, is also crisp and fresh and even more surprisingly, it's natural and has not been added. This is a sledgehammer wine that needs a char grilled, Brontosaurus steak. Rated as Rated as Excellent with *** for value, it's completely approachable now.