February 6, 2023 - Decanted for a couple of hours and drunk over 2 days. Moderate sediment. Cork looked pristine. Despite its 16 years of age, this is still a very big boy that hasn’t mellowed that much. Very dark fruit, Dutch liquorice (salty!), earth, leather, dark chocolate. Decent complexity and plenty of extract and punch. Although this clocks in at 15% alcohol, the heat, fruit and tertiary flavours are (surprisingly) mostly in balance. Tannins are still powdery and a little drying. Drink now but with the amount of fruit and extract packed in, this will last another 10 years without skipping a beat.
June 14, 2018 - Nice wine - not the best Georgia's Paddock but still has good fruit profile and balance. Still evolving.
January 13, 2018 - Decanted for one hour. Beautiful soft fruit and integrated tannins. Great length. Drinking beautifully now.
September 8, 2017 - 2007 Vintage Tasting (Bronte, Sydney): medium dark red.
ripe mix of red and black berries, subtle spice, nicely integrated.
well balanced, blend of berries, light tar and liquorice spice. tannins are furry but overall structure is reasonably well balanced. delicious drinking.
July 27, 2016 - This took a little time to open up, initially being a little closed, with cloves and spices predominating. After 90 minutes though it developed more fruit, with dark fruits, plums, tobacco and mocha. Cloves were still there along with wet earth. Good length with good tannins and balanced acidity. Compared to other vintages this is more challenging to actually like, but was still pleasant enough.
April 24, 2014 - Needed some time to open up. Then lots of spice (white pepper) show up, black fruits, leather and some heat.
On the palate it is quite focused and full bodied. The question remains if it will someday obtain a higher score or beeing at its plateau right now...
Still a very nice, classical old world shiraz with the power of heathcote.
December 31, 2011 - A young purple in the glass. At 15% alcohol, this is a full-throttle Heathcote Shiraz, with black fruit, eucalyptus, mint, licorice, spice, smoke and chocolate present on the nose and palate. There's plenty of concentration and extraction here and the wine has quite a rounded mouthfeel. There is enough acidity to keep some focus, and there are a bucket load of tannins that need to soften. The finish is a little drying and astringent with a hint of heat. This needs at least 5-7 more years.
August 28, 2009 - Drank a couple of bottles of this towards the end of dinner. Still far too young but I won't be stocking up. Nose of coal, prunes, spice and licorice, touch porty. Thick to drink, with rich prunes and tar. Tannins rip through the finish with a bit of spirit. Heathcote always teeters on the edge; for me this goes a touch too far.