Hickinbotham Clarendon The Revivalist Merlot 2020 (6x 750mL), McLaren Vale

97 points, Halliday Wine Companion

The perfume, the nuance, the power. This takes the merlot grape and knocks it out of the park. It's ripped with both fruit flavour and tannin, it's smoked with an appropriate level of oak, and it feels authoritative through the finish. In short, it's a pearler.

96 points, Huon Hooke

Very deep, dense purple colour, with a thoroughly oak-dominated aroma. The palate is very firm and tannic, with youthful, almost callow flavour and a solid tannin finish. This is a wine that grows on you. At first glance, too much oak. But it has impressive concentration, volume of flavour and palate length, and I suspect time will vindicate it thoroughly. It's an outstanding wine, and quite extraordinary within the rather ordinary gamut of Australian merlot. (From vines planted in 1976 and 1989 at 220-245m altitude. Aged 15 months in 50% new Bordeaux coopered oak. 4% petit verdot.)

93 points, Gary Walsh

Savoury, toasty, black olive and black fruit, with a little lemon zest and mint. It’s medium-bodied, roast beef and olives, something of a Campari tang, fine-grained tannin, redcurrant and blackberry on a slightly charry finish. The flavour profile is a little left-of-centre, but the wine is very good.