Amon Ra Vertical 2002-2006

This event was an opportunity to explore 5 very highly rated vintages of Amon Ra. Parker had given all of these wines scores of 96-100pts. In fact the lowest scoring wine was the 2004 with a 94-96 score. That wine had also been scored 95pts by Steven Tanzer. As it turns out, those were probably the most accurate scores of the bunch.

• 2002 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Very dark purple-red. 1 hour double decant. Drank 1+ glass over 3 hours. High toned nose of eucalyptus, sweet, ripe black fruits, blackberry, blueberry, licorice, vanilla, mineral. The palate is full bodied with lots of glycerin, consistent lush black fruits, mineral, lots of spicy black pepper on a long finish. This was the most lush of group. My #3 WOTN.

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• 2003 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Very dark purple-red color. 3 hr decant and aerated twice. Drank 1+ glass over 3hrs. Nose is still is a little slow to come around after a long decant, softer, eucalyptus - more minty, herbal, blackberry, black pepper, mineral, a bit meaty, . The palate seemed a little leaner and didn't have the lush mouthfeel of the others, licorice, black fruits, wood, integrated tannin, loads of black pepper dominating the finish. After awhile in the glass I got a green, stemmy edge, but that was not apparent on freshening the pour. I liked this the least of the bunch, but the group voted it #3 WOTN. 91+pts for me.

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• 2004 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  This was pretty bizarre. On opening I thought I got TCA off the cork. Poured it into the glass and it was questionable. Poured into the decanter and after an hour it seemed fine. Checked it in a glass and thought I could smell it, swirled it and could not tell again. Decanted for 2.5 hours expecting the worst, had the others smell it on arrival and nothing was noted. Put it back into the bottle and it was the third wine poured in the vertical. Then BAM! Total TCA, no doubt. Fortunately my second bottle was great.

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• 2004 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Very dark purple-red. Aerated into glasses (no decant as was this was the backup bottle). Drank 2 glasses over 3+hrs. Opened further over 30 minutes. Nose shows a nice earthy note not apparent in the '02 or '03 at all, nice floral notes, blackberry, creme de cassis, tobacco, a little scorched earth, a touch of cedar. Lush black fruits, integrated tannins, nice depth and layering, good acid, pepper - but not dominating, licorice, tobacco, long finsih. The was the most elegant wine of the goup and showed the best balance. This was my and group WOTN. Day 1, 94pts.
  
  Day 2 also saw this reach another level of depth and integration. Amazing wine. This continues to show the nuances and elegance that I love. Still my WOTN.

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• 2005 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Very dark purple-red color. 2.5 hr double decant. Drank 1+ glass over 2.5hrs. The nose has eucalyptus - less than most of the group though, blackberry, sweet creme de cassis, leather, tobacco, pepper. The palate strikes me a little leaner overall but still has loads black fruit and body. The acid dominates a bit too much. The finish is also quite peppery. Reminds me of the '02, but not quite as well balanced.

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• 2006 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Very dark purple-red color. 3 hr decant. Drank 1+ glass over 2.5hrs. This was still tight and woody initially, so we aerated it again after about 30 minutes and that really calmed it down. The nose became much more vibrant with a lovely dusty, cedar quality, florals came out too, along with big black fruits of cassis, blackberry, some meat and scorched earth, and much later some of the earthy quality of the '04. The palate still shows some tannin, though they are not harsh, nice concentration, layered black fruits, lots of pepper on the long finish. This did not show nearly as well as the last bottle we had (that one had a 1 hr decant FWIW). Initially this seemed tight despite the long decant and not ready to fully play, the last aeration made a significant difference. Still this was outstanding, and I will update a day 2 note. Day 1, 93pts.
  
  Ok, day 2 brought out what I saw in this wine the first time. The rich nose with depth and nuance was there. The palate evolved to show incredible depth, beautiful full fruit and impeccable balance and elegance that was not there on day 1. 95pts, still my #2 WOTN a hair behind the '04.

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I think there were several take home messages learned from this tasting. First, Ben Glaetzer makes some damn good wines. Secondly, they are very consistent from vintage to vintage. It became very difficult over the evening to make major distinctions between these wines as they were so similar. Finally, IMO, the Parker barrel scores for these wines are way too high. Parker did revisit a couple of these and the 2002 got a 95 and the 2005 a 98. I could see the '02 at 95, but our bottle of the '05 did not come anywhere near a 98.

As far as WOTN voting. For me the 2004 was a notch above everything else and the '04, '06 and '02 stood out as top 3 wines in that order. The group voted the 2004 as WOTN with 3+3+2=8pts. In second was the '06 with 2+2+1=5pts. Third was the '03 with 3+1=4pts. One person abstained, feeling they were all too close to make a clear distinction.

Thanks to Jim VP for providing the 2005 despite not being able to attend at the last minute.

Addendum: day 2 found the '04 and '06 improving further. They were the only two that I had the opportunity to revisit, though I suspect that this may have been true with all of these wines.