1998 Shiraz Blindtasted

Introductory comments by Ross Bott, tasting organizer:
The 1998 vintage was a major turning point for high end Australian wines. The concidential timing of a spectacular 1998 harvest and the first comprehensive visit by Robert Parker to the continent, followed by his rave reviews of the Shirazes he tried, suddenly started a gold rush of wine collectors scrambling after wines that most had probably never heard of before.

Many of these wines were forecasted by Robert Parker to live two decades or more (and this prediction is from someone who tends to like his wines young). Although I have never heard him say this explicitly, I'm sure that his logic is that the extraordinary levels of extract of these wines provide the stuffing and concentration to allow evolution over many years, in the same way that the legendarily powerful vintages of Bordeaux (such as 1929, 1945 and 1947) produced almost ageless clarets. At the same time, there have been rumblings of rebellion against big, high alcohol wines, with many in particular forecasting just the opposite of Parker -- short life spans for these monsters, with the fruit fading and the alcoholic heat taking front stage.

It has now been a full decade since that harvest. While we are still far from the 20 year mark, the often outrageous, over-the-top fruit of Australian Shirazes when young will have begun to attenuate. This is of course just as true of their French counterparts from Hermitage or Cote-Rotie also. However, in top French Syrahs the settling down of the primary Syrah fruit is replaced the secondary Syrah characteristics of spices, black pepper, earth, bacon fat, toffee and leather, all valued components of an old, complex Rhone. The question: Will Australian Shirazes undergo a similar transformation?

In this tasting we will try to answer this question with a group of top 1998 Australian Shirazes. I've included a range of styles and alcohol levels to let us look at the effect of high alcohol on aging, as well as the overall aging trends. For the purposes of describing them here, I've divided them up into two groups:

- The Moderates
- The Monsters

Many traditionalists would argue that the Moderates will have a better chance at surviving the long haul than the Monsters, with the argument would be that the latter lack the balance to age. Surprisingly, in our tracking of these Shirazes to date, there appears to be no pattern to which age well and which don't. If there is any rule so far, it has been that these Shirazes are evolving quite slowly, holding their fruit and their balance as well as their French counterparts. Let's see if this holds true on Thursday. Some tasting notes:

THE MODERATES
1998 Langmeil Shiraz "Barossa Valley" (14.5%): "Ripe and broad, with spicy, slightly gamy black cherry and plum flavors that echo beautifully on the rich finish." (90/100, Wine Spectator)

1998 Langmeil Shiraz "The Freedom", Barossa Valley" (14.5%): "Dark, dense and juicy, with ripe plum and berry flavors framed by fine-grained tannins and sweet oak notes. Has the density and richness" (Wine Spectator) This wine is made from 150+ year old vines, and won our tasting of top 98 Australian Shiraz when they were released. Although both of these Langmeils are rich wines, neither struck me as being over the top when we tried them young.

1998 d'Arenberg "The Footbolt", McLaren Vale (13.9%) (100% Old Vine Shiraz): "Firm and tart, with jazzy cherry and spice flavors that echo pepper and cedar on the finish." (Wine Spectator) "dense, full-bodied, muscular and concentrated" (90/100, Robert Parker)

1998 John's Blend "Margarete", 78% Langhorne Creek, 22% McLaren Vale (14.0%): ""Seventy-year old Shiraz vines have produced a minty, chocolatey, cassis-scented and flavored wine with plenty of depth, medium to full body, and rustic, old-style tannins in the finish." (90/100, Robert Parker) Two on line reviews comment "fabulous" and "a stunner". A winner of our tasting of new release Shiraz when it first came out.

THE MONSTERS
1998 Warrenmang "Victoria" (14.5%): "... this effort, made from super-ripe fruit, is one of the more backward Shiraz I tasted. It exhibits an opaque purple color as well as fabulous potential with its glorious display of licorice-infused, blackberry and cassis fruit. Dense, with low acidity, high tannin, and a whoppingly thick, stacked and packed mid-palate, this enormous monster needs 3-5 years of cellaring; it should age well for 20-25 years." (94/100, Robert Parker, Feb 2000)

1998 Viking "Grand Shiraz-Barossa Valley" (15%): "... offers a distinctive nose of lavender, roasted herbs, truffles, and gobs of jammy black fruits (raspberries, blueberries, cassis). With tangy acidity, immense body, explosive richness, and a 60-second finish, this is an exciting, distinctive, individualistic Shiraz that should drink well for 10-15 years." (94/100, Robert Parker)

1998 Oddfellows, Langhorne Creek (15.8%): "The structure has density and a certain nobility, which bodes well for those who cellar this." (Wine Spectator) "A powerful 1998 Shiraz, this chewy, somewhat closed, but dense, muscular Shiraz is crammed with leathery, earthy, blackberry, cassis fruit, has a corpulent personality, sweet tannin, and a lusty, slightly rustic, but powerful finish." (91/100, Robert Parker)

1998 Australian Wine Domain "Alliance", South Australia (14.5%): "... the dense purple-colored 1998 Shiraz The Alliance ... reveals a fat, blackberry/cassis-scented and flavored personality, immense body, low acidity, sweet tannin, and subtle integrated wood. This fruit and glycerin-driven, blockbuster Shiraz should drink well for 10-15 years." (91/100, Robert Parker)

• 1998 John's Blend Shiraz Margarete's 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek

  Group's #1 (my #3) – 28 pts; 3 firsts, 3 seconds, 3 thirds, 0 last places – dark red violet color; another chocolatey, bittersweet chocolate and blackberry nose; also heavy on palate, with tart black fruit and liquid smoke; medium-plus finish 91+ pts.

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• 1998 Langmeil Shiraz The Freedom 1843 90 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Group's #2 (my #5) – 35 pts.; 2, 2, 4, 0 – dark red violet color; appealing, tart chocolate, black fruit nose; intriguing, black fruit and liquid pepper palate with a sense of hyacinths; medium finish (unfortunately changed dramatically and went down hill after 30 minutes or so in the glass)

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• 1998 Langmeil Shiraz 82 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Group's #3 (my #7) – 43 pts.; 3, 0, 1, 0 – medium red violet color; funky, reduction and stewed meat nose; stewed meat, with reduction, smoke on palate, disjointed; medium-plus finish

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• 1998 Australian Domaine Wines Shiraz Alliance 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa

  Group's #4 (my #2) – 46 pts.; 0, 4, 0, 0 – dark red violet color; intriguing herbal, herbes de Provence and blue fruit nose; tasty, herbes de Provence, tart black fruit, tart plum and pepper palate; medium-plus finish

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• 1998 Viking Wines Shiraz "Grand Shiraz" 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Group's #5 (my #1) – 49 pts.; 2, 0, 2, 0 – dark red violet color; deep raspberry syrup and cherry nose; focused raspberry, black cherry and tart cherry palate; medium finish 92+ pts.

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• 1998 Oddfellows Shiraz 86 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek

  Group's #6 (my #6) – 50 pts.; 1, 1, 1, 0 – dark red violet color; boysenberry, berry nose with a little VA; high alcohol, tart, surprisingly fruit-less, herbes de Provence and graphite palate; medium hot finish

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• 1998 Warrenmang Shiraz Estate 90 Points

  Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Pyrenees

  Group's #7 (my #4) – 57 pts.; 0, 1, 0, 0 – purple black red violet color; nice graphite, floral, jasmine and sweet pepper nose; heavy, tart black fruit and pepper palate; medium-plus finish 90+ pts.

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• 1998 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Footbolt Flawed

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale

  Group's #8 (my #8) – 88 pts.; 0, 0, 0, 11 – dark red violet color with pale meniscus; TCA nose; TCA on palate (unanimous last place)

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