2023 Mount Pleasant Maurice O'Shea Shiraz, Hunter Valley

Maurice O'Shea is the flagship blend of the best parcels from the finest vineyards of the Mount Pleasant estate. For this vintage, the vineyards included the 1880 vines of Old Hill and the Rosehill 1946 vines, with all grapes handpicked, destemmed and sorted, leaving the whole berries to soak before fermentation. The result is a stylish, medium-weight shiraz with incredible flavour intensity and an inherent lightness and energy. Beautifully supple, it bursts with warm strawberry fruit, enhanced by nuanced, fragrant oak. The mid-palate has impressive weight, while the intense, succulent flavours on the finish are captivating and memorable. Though it will cellar for decades, its remarkable approachability makes it hard to resist opening now. Drink to 2043.

98 points Toni Paterson for Halliday Wine Companion, July 2025

A beguiling nose of cocoa nib, dried raspberry and mulberry mixes with subtle savoury notes, red dusty earth and fresh leather. The palate echoes the kaleidoscopic mix of flavours on the nose. A slippery core glides across the palate with an undercurrent of power and carriage. Tongue coating tannins are so fine yet framing, providing the architecture needed for this beauty to age gracefully. It's incredibly youthful yet there's a great synergy. Luminous and light on its feet, it has plenty of structure to set it up for at least a decade in the cellar. Drink to 2040.

98 points Gabrielle Poy for The Real Review, April 2025

More about this wine

This wine was created in 1987 as a tribute to the legendary Maurice O’Shea. It is a best-of-the-vintage barrel selection of grapes sourced from Old Hill planted in 1880, Old Paddock planted in 1921 and Rosehill planted in 1946.

The 2023 was a near perfect vintage, warm and sunny with long ripening period.

About Mount Pleasant

The legendary Mount Pleasant estate was founded by one of the true visionaries of Australian wine, Maurice O’Shea. The vineyards include plantings of ancestral vines of 1880, as well as Australia’s oldest mother vine Pinot Noir planted in 1921. It is home to some of the first fine wines of Australia, and just five winemakers have left their mark over its 100-year history, maintaining its status as a benchmark of Hunter classics.