The First Biennial Big Beastly Shiraz-o-rama

Vancouver
Tasted Saturday, September 24, 2005 by Blair Curtis with 1,122 views

Introduction

David L. was kind enough to invite a bunch of us guys to his house for a "Shiraz-o-rama". It was quite an event with some lovely mini-verticals and extrordinary food prepared by his partner, Donna. As the night went on, the guys got funnier and funnier. We had a great time.

Flight 1 - The Old Guard - Henschke Mt. Edelstone (3 Notes)

These wines have all aged nicely (the '91 more than the others) and all of them show grace and are not the least bit jammy.

  • 1990 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone 92 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

    Beautiful refined wine. Sleek structure. Nose with a touch of menthol. On the palate cherry cough drops and blackberry. Fresh, tart acids.

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  • 1991 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone 90 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

    Smells more advanced than the '90 with lovely aromas of forest floor. On the palate, the wine also seems fully resolved. Fall leaves with strawberry fruit. Based on this bottle, drink up.

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  • 1992 Henschke Shiraz Mount Edelstone 94 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley

    On the big nose, pepper and fly oil. This one is a return to the structure of the 1990. (But Peter noted that this was the first of the three to show what seemed French, as opposed to American oak.) Good acids, solid but integrated tannin. Nice deep plum fruit. This has the best balance of the three from '90-'92.

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Flight 2 - The Dead Arms (3 Notes)

I expected more from these wines. They were good, but not great on this night.

  • 1998 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    I think this bottle was off, so I won't score it. I wrote a full tasting note, but when I came back to the wine after a few hours, I was getting a light TCA aftertaste - I was not picking it up on the nose. Mild TCA might explain the lacklustre earlier tasting note, which I'll provide for completeness: A closed nose and revealing high alcohol and VA (showing as paint). On the palate, the structure dominates the fruit. Superfine tannins. The fruit that is there is sweet and not over the top.

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  • 2000 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm 91 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    One of the sleeper hits of the tasting (and not just 'cuz I contributed it). Definitely lacks the structural depth of other better vintages of Dead Arm. But just a ton of primary, rich black fruit. There's mocha and blueberries. Yummy! No point in waiting on this one.

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  • 2001 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm 93 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    A bit medicinal on the nose. On the palate, spicy, peppery wine, but a touch hot. Giant fruit that goes on and on. This wine definitely needs time to settle down, but I think it will be a winner.

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Flight 3 - Intermission - A Magnum of The Struie (1 Note)

This wine was right on target and was enjoyed by all, as was the fantastic meal we ate at this time.

  • 2002 Torbreck Shiraz The Struie 95 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa

    (From magnum) This is the best wine so far in the tasting. Gets everyone's attention right away. Killer ripe fruit nose. On the palate, a huge wine with tons of surmature fruit. But somehow the underlying structure holds it together. A great example of taking it to the edge, but not going too far. Torbreck makes great shiraz.

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Flight 4 - Two Times Two Hands Bella's (2 Notes)

Consistent performances.

Flight 5 - Mitolo G.A.M. - Dessert Anyone? (2 Notes)

These wines were just too sweet for me.

  • 2001 Mitolo Shiraz G.A.M. 89 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    On the nose, vanilla and cookie-dough. On the palate the wine is smooth, but too sweet and lacks complexity.

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  • 2003 Mitolo Shiraz G.A.M. 92 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

    A little stinky on the nose. On the palate a super-ripe, black shiraz. It is wild with some pepper. Has something like a hyper-ripe Rhone profile. But back to Oz with the blueberry syrup taste. For my personal taste the wine is just too sweet and I would score it less, but on objective quality, I think 92 is about right.

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Flight 6 - Standish Wines (2 Notes)

We had one each of the old vines shiraz and the shiraz-viognier. Both were quite good (as I recall...)

  • 2001 The Standish Wine Company Shiraz The Standish

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    I know I enjoyed this wine, but at this point I had pretty well stopped taking notes. For relative purposes, I recall it was much better than the Mitolos and closer to the Two Hands Bella's in quality.

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  • 2002 The Standish Wine Company The Relic 94 Points

    Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

    This wine was tasty, peppery and HUGE. Sadly that's all I wrote, as the Shirazathon had taken its toll on me and we were all having too many laughs and enjoying the food too much to write more at this point.

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