Tabula rasa is Latin for clean or blank slate. The vintage is 2018; the R stands for red.

This is a blend composed of 76% Grenache (mostly old vines from McLaren Vale, apparently), 10% Shiraz, 9% Mataro and 5% Carignan. Dark ruby/garnet, this has blackcurrant ice cream on the nose, with a hint of vanilla. Brambly fruit on the palate. Keen tannins and good acidity lend eminent drinkability despite 14.5 per cent abv and a full body. This has a crown cap enclosure and contains only 0.5 litres. I can almost imagine turning up at a drinks party with this and imbibing it straight from the bottle like a beer.

Bought from our local bottle shop, Baythorne Wines. Only on sale in Australia and the UK, as far as I can tell.