Tag Archives: Shiraz/Syrah

Penfolds Bin 389 2002

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Exuberantly purple, this wine reeks of huge, fruity raspberries at first; this is the classic “raspberry motor oil” Randall Grahm joked about back in 2002. Look again, though, and you see a hint of age creeping in at the rim; you can also smell sweet camphor and bottle age in there as well.Relatively full body, bright acidity nicely frames a wine that isn’t lacking for flavor at all. At this point, what you get is more of a Cabernet style wine but with brash fruit that isn’t typically Cabernet. Ultimately, it’s a vibrant, boundless sort of wine that’s a hell of a lot of fun. Again, however, like the St Henri from last week, what’s lacking is a sense of place or style. However, at least this wine has firmer tannins to support all of that over-the-top fruitiness; that’s why I think this wine is in fact a better effort. (Costing half as much doesn’t hurt either.)Penfolds
Price: $18
Closure: Cork

Penfolds St Henri 2002

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I wish I knew why, but lately I seem to be over-sensitive to the difference between immaculately filtered wines and wines that are still soupy with debris left over from the winemaking process. Last week, I enjoyed a couple of bottles of Chinon with friends, and both of those bottles left you with a mouthful of residue. I wonder – is that the vinuous equivalent of bongwater? But I digress.Brilliant, sparkling, deep red, this wine is beautifully perfumed. It smells remarkably of damson jam or even German Zwetschgenkuchen, but it’s not the usual South Australian raspberry fruit bomb. Instead, there’s a strong note of freshly shined shoes and saddle leather backing it up, which gives it a much fresher, brighter dimension. There’s even a twinge of eucalypts and violets there somehow; it’s wonderfully complex and a real delight to smell this wine.Medium-full bodied in the mouth, the texture has been buffed to a glossy sheen; tannins, if any, appear to be fully resolved or so satiny that they’re not perceptibly there until the finish, which leaves just enough of a tannic impact to read as “serious.” Taste-wise there’s something like a Christmas cake effect, but again: it’s mostly dark red berries with a hint of blackstrap molasses and just the faintest hit on the onset of bottle age. My only complaint is that the’res incongrous acidity that peeks its head out on the finish, interrupting what’s otherwise a very smooth, elegant line with a rush of “ow, I hope I remembered to restock the antacids.” Even so, this thing is a wonderfully streamlined wine that seems to me a lot like a Chris Ringland Barossa monster Shiraz minus the pruney notes and overachieving alcohol. I like.That being said, my partner just chimed and said “uh, this sure seems corporate and bland.” He does have a point; there is something awfully same-y about this wine. Where is it from? Australia? California? There really isn’t anything especially distinctive about it, and that too is a drawback. Plus, what I’m reading as high acidity could just be high alcohol; it’s still just under 15%, and that does seem to throw the finish out of whack.Penfolds
Price: $40
Closure: Cork

d'Arenberg The Stump Jump Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre 2007

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Bright ruby colour, very clean and not very dense. Bang, we’re in commercial red territory with the nose, and I mean that as only half an insult. Let’s face it, there’s something comforting about the easygoing aroma profile of a well made, mainstream red wine. This one has pretty aromas of sweet red berry fruit, grilled meat, an interesting medicinal note and subdued brambles, along with a hint of gentle oak. Everything in its place.

Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant 2005

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The best thing about being an unpaid blogger is that sometimes you don’t have to review the wine – you just have to drink it – and that’s what I’m about to do: put down the laptop and enjoy this bottle of wine.This is the best Cigare I’ve had yet. Rich, smooth, and yet not strictly Californian, it’s got minerality, a savory tannic edge, and is just damn good.Back to the bottle. I promise to write a real tasting note next time.Bonny Doon Vineyard
Price: $30
Closure: Stelvin

Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz 2005

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At the risk of turning Full Pour into the Clonakilla Wine Appreciation Society, I cracked open a bottle of the 2005 Hilltops Shiraz this evening. On its release, I remember liking this wine a great deal, more so than the subsequent vintage at least, and finding it especially dense and serious. So, it’s with particular relish that I am checking in on its progress.

It’s certainly moved on since release. Not that it’s looking tired at all; this wine has just relaxed enough to allow its fruit fuller expression. The nose is a dense rush of violetty, dark berry fruit mixed with some savoury, meaty edges. There’s perhaps a hint of stalk too, though it’s certainly in the background. This label usually strikes me as displaying what I characterise as purple fruit. To elaborate, in my mind it’s a cross between frozen berry desserts and Hubba Bubba Original Flavour; in other words, a little sweet but mostly intense and delicious. Here, now, the fruit is moving freely, structure having relaxed enough to let berry juice flow into the mouth. It maintains poise and an element of restraint, though. There are cough medicine complexities too, quite high toned and aromatic, plus some lovely cumquat-like citrus. Vanilla oak provides a soft and cuddly backdrop. The palate is notably voluminous from entry to finish, with nary a dip in intensity. A very long finish.

A generous, truly delicious wine. For my taste, I’d like to see some more bottle age show itself here, as I feel some decay and additional flow will add extra beauty to this wine’s flavour profile. This label really tends to blossom after about five years; I’ll try another in two to three years.

Clonakilla
Price: $25
Closure: Stelvin

Tulloch Private Bin Pokolbin Dry Red Shiraz 2005

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Pure Hunter on the nose: red berries squashed on a dry dirt road. Nuances of roast meat and herbs contribute complexity, and subtle oak underlines what is a piercing, relatively high-toned aroma profile. The more I smell this wine, the more I get from it; it’s definitely a wine to savour through the evening rather than slam down fast.

The palate is restrained and tight, showing little evidence of a rest in bottle. Acid! Really, lots of it, keeping the fruit in check and the line in shape. Not that there’s a lack of enjoyment — in fact, within the constraints of youthful structure, the fruit is remarkably intense and detailed. Medium bodied, there are bright savoury red berries along with more herb and lightly spiced oak. Totally consistent from nose the palate. I love the way this wine feels in the mouth, with very fine acidity and equally fine, ripe tannins creating a large-scale textural underlay for the fruit. Very long finish.

Loads of quality here for sure, but it’s way too young to drink right now. Reminds me a little of Chianti. I’ll be cracking another in five years.

Tulloch
Price: $A40
Closure: Cork

Bonny Doon Vineyard Syrah Cuvée Splendide 2006

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This one slipped in under the radar somehow; not a wine club selection from Bonny Doon, this was a one-off purchase from last summer. I’m a sucker for Randall Grahm’s wolf-cries; just as his Heart Has Its Rieslings was said to be the veritable bomb back in the fall of 2001 (word to the wise: there are still a number of bottles of that for sale at the main Glengarry shop in Auckland to this day), this was another one of Mr Grahm’s “OMG yum” mentions to wine club members; as a result, it’s open in front of me now.

Nothing surprising about color here; what is surprising is the smell. It’s a witness to the change in philosophy at the winery in Santa Cruz, I reckon: no more weird, microbullage-d to death velveteen aromas. Instead, there’s a sour dust lazily orbiting the wine in in the glass. It’s a surprise, a good surprise. Hell, I’ll even go out on a limb here and say that there’s something like Slim Jims and truckstop chili: a stale meatiness with the suggestion of warm asphalt.

Appealingly restrained, upright, dry in the mouth, the finish is solidly tannic, shot through with uptight French fruit. Overall, the effect is one of unexpected minerality: the fruits are very much sitting at the back of the room, patient, yielding the stage to structure worth of an Irish nun’s lesson plan. The overall effect is deliriously delicious and would surely benefit from a fresh joint (of lamb, not Humboldt County’s finest) on the side.

Surprisingly, I think this one might actually last a long, long time: it’d be interesting to see what happens with the arthritic grip of the wine’s bones loosens and lets some of that California fruit steal the spotlight.

Delicious.

Bonny Doon
Price: $24
Closure: Stelvin

Yalumba Hand Picked Barossa Shiraz + Viognier 2002

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How often do professional wine writers smell something and think to themselves “Oh dear God, it’s yet another Barossa shiraz with some age to it” and quietly frown, wondering how they’re going to say something exciting and original about yet another wine of hundreds that are superficially the same? Fairly often, I’d guess.

This is yet another Barossa shiraz with some age to it: an initial burst of jammy fruit tempered by marked bottle age notes at the finish of a good sniff. It’s fresh black cherries with cola nut and just a hint of horehound.

The initial attack of rich, sweet Barossa fruit is quickly swept aside in favor of a somewhat tannic, then revoltingly medicinal (honest: this tastes like American cough syrup does, and I’m not a fan) note that disappears quietly into an unremarkable finish. With aeration and patience, this does prove itself to be a well made wine but ugh: that flavor is so strongly reminiscent of childhood medications I took to relieve the itch associated with chicken pox that I really do need to go find something else to drink.

Recommended only if you didn’t grow up in the USA.

Yalumba
Price: $30
Closure: Cork

Collector Reserve Shiraz 2006

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It’s the longest day of the year, and Julian and I are enjoying a glass of this together in Dunedin, New Zealand for no reason other than, well, we wanted to.

I got a sniff of this and squealed “oh, FRUITY!” Of course, that was a gross oversimplification; after a few more minutes, it started heading down a more oaky, yet still hugely Australian path. Good stuff. Gorgeously mouth filling and fairly well oaked (and yet still within reason), this is an exuberantly huge Aussie red that somehow doesn’t strike me as particularly Canberra in any way. Of course, I only know from Lark Hill and Canberra – and maybe that Kamberra stuff, not sure if that was really Canberran – but whatevs, this is delicious.

And here’s the bit where I transcribe some Julian: Pain grillé, he says, but I think he’s actually joking about one of last night’s wines.

Really dense red fruit, sort of clove-y, spicy oak. Kind of a slightly sappy edge to it as well, he thinks. So, in the mouth it’s quite bright and medium-bodied… structure seems quite acid-driven, fairly tannic here… he really likes the depth of the flavour profile. It’s not a huge flavour profile, but it has really nice depth and is sort of layered nicely. There’s also a really nice, sustained line through the after-palate, really consistent, quite a long wine as well, he thinks.

The awesome thing for me of course is watching Julian drink this – it’s always fun to watch someone caught up in the moment of enjoying something. And of course, it’s extra fun if you haven’t seen your mate in a few years.

That’s it for now, I’m off to finish the bottle while there’s still daylight (another thirty minutes or so, I’m guessing).