The flagship 2006 Invictus Shiraz comes from the Ebenezer region of Barossa. The vines are 50+ years of age and the grapes were dried on racks for one week prior to crushing. The fermented juice was aged in 100% new French and American oak hogsheads for 16 months. Purple/black in color, it offers up a brooding bouquet of toasty oak, lavender, truffle, pencil lead, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. On the palate it is thick, rich, voluptuous, savory, and exceptionally lengthy. It demands 6-8 years of cellaring and it should provide pleasure through 2030.Owner/winemaker Ross Trimboli buys grapes from many regions with Kangaroo Island being the latest addition to the portfolio. Both offerings from the latter are from five-year-old vines but that youthfulness is not apparent on the palate.Importer: Dan Philips. The Grateful Palate, Oxnard, CA; tel. (805) 278-9095

I don’t understand the price of the 2004 Shiraz Invictus, which comes from 30- to 50-year-old Barossa Valley vines and is aged three years in old American oak. While certainly outstanding, it plays it closer to the vest than its siblings, with the exception of the Kangaroo Island offering. There are loads of tannin as well as fruit, but why the outrageously high price?Importer: Dan Philips, The Grateful Palate, Oxnard, CA; tel. (888) 472-5283