NobleRottersSydney - Sth Aust Shiraz 1996 &1998

The Noble Rotters’ September 2010 dinner looked back to compare South Australian shirazes from 1996 and 1998. A tricky and very specific theme. And one with mixed success. Other factors; on the eve of the ‘Artisans of the Barossa’ roadshow we were joined by winemakers Simon Cowham from Sons of Eden and Wayne Dutschke, neither of whom had the ‘theme’ information, but who brought some recent wines for us to try anyway.
Oh yes, and some idiot didn’t realise he was on duty for Champagne and dessert wines. It was a good thing our guests filled the breach…

• 2006 Sons of Eden Riesling Freya

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

  [12.5%, screwcap] {Simon} Pale yellow. Developing aromas of musk and underlying limes. An interesting palate in something of a developmental hole I suspect; there’s burst of spritzy acid to begin, then the wine seems to sit a little flabbily on the palate, and then the acid roars back again. It’s quite phenolic and grippy in that middle phase, and warmly musk-like in flavour. There’s a little twist of sweet fruit at the end of the finish too. Absolutely medium-bodied and with a medium-length finish; needs another few years to pull itself together I reckon.

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• 2008 Sons of Eden Shiraz Remus Old Vine

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

  [14%, cork, A$60]{Simon} Youthful. Singing a strong Barossa-accented chorus: big sweet fruit-cake aromas, plums, raspberries, sweet oak. Lots of chalky tannins frame big stewed fruits on the palate, with raspberries, cinnamon spice, blueberries and liquorice. Avoids obvious sweetness or raisiny characters. Plenty of weight on the front and mid-palates, pretty full-bodied really, with a warm, slightly one-dimensional medium-length finish (to be fair, it’s still very young). Give it a little time for a better result. 380 cases made, and each bottle wears a $1 cork.

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• 2008 Dutschke Shiraz Single Vineyard St. Jakobi Vineyard

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [15.5%, cork, A$35] {Wayne} A dense ruby. Youthful, intense nose of liqueured blueberries, soy and liquorice. Very slutty! The palate is big, rich and ripe; plummy, even a little raisined and a touch porty. Some alcoholic lift to the flavours, undeniably; finely judged oak & fine tannins are rather submerged by lashings of ripe fruit. So, an undeniable fruit-bomb, but enjoyable in a take-no-prisoners kind of way. Not too sweet, which helops the cause. Probably best early I reckon, just on account of the alcohol if nothing else…

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• 1998 Normans Old Vine Shiraz

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [14%, cork] {Stephen} Controversially musty upon opening – enough to raise suspicions of cork taint, although the palate didn’t seem stripped like you’d expect.Time heals all; eventually soft, sweetly jammy fruits emerged, aged and comfortable. Soft, furrily astringent palate, but a rather short finish was the let down in the end. A lesson about decanting here, perhaps? Presumably will live longer, but already at or past peak. Barossa & McLaren Vale only, according to the label this vintage.

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• 1998 Tim Adams Shiraz

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  [14%, cork] {Kim} Not the top-line Aberfeldy, but the modest entry level effort. And showing it. Marginal and aaged nose of fungal, mushroomy, almost feral notes. A touch of compost. Not bretty, but rather dank all the same. The palate tastes rather brown; old meaty flavours, rather gravy-like, without a great deal of complexity. The tannins are pretty much gone as well, which doesn’t help matters. Rather short, one-dimensional finish. Overall, a rather surprising disappointment, somehow I was expecting more from this.

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• 1996 Henschke Keyneton Estate

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa

  [13.7%, cork] {Glenn} Decanted about an hour before, when the cork disintegrated. Lovely old wine; aged aromas of old red wine, leather, decaying spices, and a very characteristic “Old Henschke™” aroma – you could sell it as a deoderant. The palate is softly earthy and spicy, with dusty dried fruit flavours. All very medium-bodied, balanced and soft, but its humble pedigree is revealed in the finish, which is rather short compared to the pricier labels in Henschke’s stable. But that’s what you pay for…

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• 1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz Michael

  Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra

  [13.5%, cork] {Ron} Still a deep ruby/crimson after all these years. And still as oaky as a lumber yeard. Yes, there are some pepper and spice notes on the developing palate, but mostly it’s American oak. Good oak, but still… The palate’s not that pretty either, although better than I’d expected. Big gritty tannins lead aging blueberry fruits; it’s full-bodied in the way it lands on the mid-palate, but lacks any semblence of charm, and the finish is just a warm oaky shell that fades away without much depth or interest. Perhaps this was best young, drunk with a burnt sausage; give it another five years and it could become a kind of ‘dead wine walking’, an empty shell still striding along…

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• 1998 Chapel Hill Shiraz The Vicar

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [14%, cork] {Geoffrey} I’m sanguine about the 98 Michael after tasting this; a once-embalmed wine which appears to have made a Lazarus-like comeback. The nose is aged plum and raspberries, with a porty touch. The bretty-volatile aromas from years ago have disappeared, at least from this bottle. The palate, however, is far from a triumph. Ripe but hollow. A burst of aging fruit-cake flavour becomes a hollow shell of departed fruit. Soft chalky tannins give some medium-bodied weight to it, but there’s little length of flavour on the finish. Better than I expected – much better – but hardly worth seeking out. Was a wine to drink before its fifth birthday.

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• 1992 Haselgrove

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [14%, cork] {Kim} Didn’t fit the night’s theme, but was in the vicinity, so opened anyway! Garnet with an orange tinge. Looks old. Oddly fruit nose; bubblegum and fairy-floss. Smells like some ancient confectionary shop. The palate is aged but alive, with a furry grape-skin texture and soft old jammy fruits. It’s thinning out – there are no real tannins left – and doubtless was a better wine ten years ago, but still this has some life to it. Modest finish. For the record, labelled 'James Haselgrove', and was Grenache-Shiraz.

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• 1996 Basedow's Shiraz Johannes

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [13.4%, cork] {Andrew} Decanted for about 90 minutes. Bottle no 3384! Aged nose. Soft leathery, old-spicy notes; cinnamon, cloves. Can aromas be cuddly? Rather old-fashioned wine on the palate; quite light-medium bodied now in contrast to the expectation the bouquet sets up; leathery old fruits are drying out and the acid is just starting to poke through. Decent coverage of flavour and texture along the palate, which saves the wine, before a medium length very aged and soft finish. Probably past peak, so drink soon.

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• 1996 Saltram Shiraz No.1

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa

  [14%, cork] {Gordon} The best Barossa red of the night. That same seductive sweet red-berry-fruit-cake & spicy-chocolate aroma that’s been on show tonight, but here singing with full voice at its peak. The palate lives up to the promise, with berry pie and spicy pepper flavours washing across the palate. Certainly these fruits are aged, but they’ve picked up a burnished quality which adds a dimension of interest. Full-bodied, but with quite soft tannins and a medium-length finish. Not being an oak-concerto certainly helps. This is surely at peak now; I guess another 5 years won’t hurt but I wouldn’t expect any improvement on this. Very good wine.

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• 1996 Wendouree Shiraz

  Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley

  [13.5%, cork] {Graeme} Double decanted about 4 hours earlier. Still on the dark side of garnet. Somewhat developing dark-green aromas dominate here; mint, eucalypt, menthol, dashes of olive. Little oak evident, and in all the nose is rather subdued. The palate is assertive with dark green fruits, olives, and a sort of inky black flavour at its core. Rather forebidding, and also somewhat monolitic; there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interst here; the palate is large and blocky and rather devoid of nuance. It’s medium-full bodied, with lots of powdery tannin and a decent length of finish; it’s hard to predict an evolutionary path for this. Not terribly satisfying to drink now; I reckon it needs another 10 years to develop a bit more personality. My first taste since I bought it twelve years ago!

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• 1996 Hardys Shiraz Eileen Hardy

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  [14.5%, cork] {Bruce} Developing but still rather youthful aromas of liquorice, blackberries and vanilla US oak. A powerhouse but not raucous palate of rich fruits (per the aromas) with no stale rainisy characters. Full-bodied, with medium weight powdery tannins and great intensity of flavour, the partly-evolved ripe fruit flavours coat the full length of the palate. Maybe the slightly harder/cooler edge to the Padthaway fruit really bolsters the luscious McLaren Vale component? At any rate, they work well together. Wine-of-the-Night for many, this ought to sail through another ten years of development easily. Triumphant wine showcasing the best of regional blending.

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• NV Dutschke The Tawny 22 Year Old

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  [375ml, 20%, screwcap] {Wayne} A largely verdelho-based wine, this solera-based fortified wafts caramel, crème-brulee and brandied notes into the sinuses. The palate follows up with cold tea, caramel and Christmas-cake flavours, warm, spicy and alcoholic, with a decently long finish of some depth. A grand end to a fine evening.

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We didn’t formally vote, but no-one would argue that 1996 carried the night. Thanks to Simon & Wayne for their contributions.