Elephant in the Room, Langhorne Creek Shiraz 2017

An unashamedly Big Aussie Red from Majestic

First, a question:

a) if you've got it, flaunt it
b) less is more

If you answered b), then look away now.

Elephant in the Room wines describe themselves as "proudly large in scale and expansive in flavour ... created to give consumers exactly what they want – full bodied and mouth-filling wines that deliver maximum pleasure."

If this antipodean wine were a band, it would be AC-DC; if it were a comedian, it would be Paul Hogan. Bombastic, attention-grabbing and in-yer-face, it views subtlety the way a Neanderthal views a woolly mammoth.

That is not the same, however, as lacking in sophistication - give it a several hours in the decanter for the oak, spice and dark fruits to settle down and its finer qualities become much more obvious.

Elephant in the Room, Langhorne Creek Shiraz 2017 (Majestic, £13.99 / £10.99 Mix Six - until at least August) expressive and perfumed with sweet, ripe dark-berry fruit, violets and toasty-oaky spice; behind lies a dense, complex core with fine tannins.

Good.

It is not especially food friendly, but will match with darker game such as duck or venison.