5/8/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Pale gold with silver lining.
Nose: Lanolin, lemon curd, lime, toast and honey.
Palette: Lemon curd, lime, honey, nectarine, toast.

Lovely rich long finish with enough of an acid spine to keep things interesting for the future.

Years ahead of it but drinking really well now - really nice drop.

5/4/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Pretty much ditto from the tasting 2.5 years ago, but the primary fruit has faded very slightly.

5/3/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark crimson purple
Nose: Cherry ripe, plums, mocha, musk, spice
Palette: Cherry, milk chocolate, mocha, plums, spice, pepper

Quite a long finish with a bit of an acid backbone.

Very nice, but not great, a tad to much acid for me.

2/29/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Gold / silver
Nose: Toast, pineapple, peach, hay, lanolin
Palette: Toast, butterscotch, herbs, lemon, lime, grapefruit, white peach

Pleasant but not as good as other vintages I've had.

Not a lot of life left in it.

2/17/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: clear, light gold
Nose: Lemon. melon, lime, musk?
Palette: Melon, butter, lemon, lime, stone fruits.

Quite a creamy wine without being overbearing.

Solid acid backbone that isn't to obvious due to the creaminess of the wine.

Interesting chardonnay sort of halfway between buttery and austere varieties.

May improve over the next few years as well.

2/13/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Very dark opaque purple / black
Nose: Blackberry, musk, menthol, nutmeg, pepper
Palette: Blackberry, blueberry, pepper, nutmeg, musk

Long, rich palette with lots of flavour and nice drying tanin, but definitely moving into the tertiary flavours being dominant.
Very mouth filling.

Not as expressive as previous vintages I've had, but still a nice solid drink and going strong at 10 years old.

Don't think it will improve as it seems the tertiary flavours are now starting to dominate the fruit.

1/20/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark crimson
Nose: Blueberry, menthol and violet, some pepper
Palette: Blueberry, blackberry, pepper, plum.

Very varietal, nothing profound but nice to drink and will improve.

1/20/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver / gold, slightly pink hue
Nose: Very subdued - tinge of melon and pear
Palette: Melon, pear, slightly oily with a touch of grassy herbs and apple - sweetish.
Smooth and easy to drink.

Nothing profound, just a nice easy drinkinf wine.

1/5/2024 - corkus Likes this wine:

Tasting notes are pretty much the same as the last bottle back in 2020 except there is now a nice overtone of mocha / coffee to the palette as well.
In a really nice drinking window at the moment but has years to go.
Still one of the best value age worthy wines in Australia.

12/31/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Pretty much ditto for flavour and nose from my 2021 tasting notes.
This one seems to have more of an acid backbone which actually detracts from it to some extent.
Maybe the vagaries of a cork enclosure.
In any event it's a bit less integrated and pleasurable to drink than the previous bottle.

12/24/2023 - corkus wrote:

Colour: Deep purple / black, slight browning on the edge.
Nose: Leather, barnyard, some menthol, cherries, red currants, brambles.
Palette: Mushrooms / barnyard, rhubarb, cherries and pips, red currant, chocolate, menthol.

Medium, long finish, quite tart red currant like finish which I didn't like much.

Not my favourite style of shiraz.

12/23/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver gold
Nose: Rose, lychee
Palate: Turkish delight. honey, lychee, glycerol, very grapey!

Lovely rich wine with a nice long finish with a slightly acid backbone that hints at future glory.

12/23/2023 - corkus Does not like this wine:

Colour: Dark purple
Nose: Red brambly fruit, earth, eucalyptus
Palette: Red brambly fruit, some bitter greenish tannin, cola, cranberry.

Long but not very pleasany finish with high acid and alcohol heat.

Didn't like it much and that is a first for any Clarendon Hills wine I've consumed.

12/16/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colur: Silver / gold
Nose: Some sage / herbs mixed in with toast and tropical fruit notes, sounds strange but is quite nice
Palette: Herbs, toast, noughat, honey, lime, tropical fruit base with a creamy long acidic lemon / lime finish.

Still has a nice acid bacbone as well, so may hold up for a few years.

Vey nice wine, certainly much better that your average boring SB.

12/12/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Clear silver / gold
Nose: Lychee, musk, lavender, ginger
Palette: Lavender, ginger, lychee, musk, lemon, lime.

Longish finish with nice palette cleansing lemon / lime acidity mixed in with the sweet mix of flavours.

Lots of time ahead of it.

Very pleasant drop that needs food to bring out it's best.
Went very well with a Thai red chicken curry (not to hot).

12/9/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Ditto from the tasting in August.

12/9/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

A bit one dimensional.
Pepper, blackberry, blackcurrent, mulberry palette.
Slightly rough palette without much sublety to the fruit.
Long finish.
Still drinking well, but should have drunk earlier to get more of the fruit inherent in the wine.

11/24/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: purple with brick red edges
Nose: Vanilla, red currant, black berry fruit, pepper, lavender
Palette: Vanilla, pepper, raspberry, liquorice, menthol, cocoa, sage amd other herbs, black tea, plum. Basically lots of intermingling flavours that are all good!

Very interesting and pretty complex wine.
Not sublime or ethereal, but good honest interesting plonk.

The only drawback is the hot alcoholic finish.

I reckon it'll get better over the next few years as all of the above component flavours mesh together and smooth out.

Great value for money, even considering I bought it in Oz.

10/27/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Purple / crimson
Nose: Mocha, lavender, cherry, blueberry
Palette: Mocha, musk, lavender, blueberry, blackberry

Still seems a bit young, so maybe a while to go.

Fairly long acidic finish, quite refreshing actually.

Nice, simple easy drinking wine.

10/27/2023 - corkus Does not like this wine:

Colour: Dark purple
Nose: Liquorice, green plums, currants
Palette: Olives, liquorice, sour cherries, white pepper, unripe plums

If anything it is less integrated and more muddied than the last tasting.
It still has a green tannin, unripe finish that ruins the wine.

Quite an unpleasant after taste.

Not fo me.

10/24/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver with a touch of gold
Nose: Lime, melon - subdued
Palette: Lemon, lime, melon with medium long acidic finish.

Pretty simple at the moment and I have no idea when it will flesh out with tertiary flavours.

10/20/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour:Silver gold, straw
Nose: Lemon, apple, some honey suckle
Palette: Mandarin, lemon, lime, melon, some honeysuckle

Long acidic finish, still years ahead of it.

10/14/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver gold
Nose: Struck match, toast
Palette: Nectarine, lemon, longish acidic finish.

So so wine without much complexity.

Not overly impressed.

10/14/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Deep crimson
Nose: Blueberry, blackberry, brambles, musk, cinnamon
Palette: Blueberry, blackberry, musk, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, creamy finish medium long
Very fruit forward but with enough creamy tannin to make me think it'll last for a while.

Very nice wine.

I would not know it's the same wine as the one I drank in 2021 which was very ordinary with unripe green tannin.
Maybe a fault in the last bottle or it's just improved out of site in the last couple of years!

9/29/2023 - corkus wrote:

Colour: crimson / purple
Nose: Leather, cola, some brambly fruit
Palette: Sour cherry, raspberry, menthol, somewhat acidic finish

Much different to 2 years ago as the fruit has faded and that isn't a good thing.

Drink now, preferably with food.

9/27/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark purple, slightly brownish edge
Nose: Cherries, brambles, menthol, liquorice/fennel, white pepper
Palette: Sour cherries, menthol, milk chocolate, liquorice/fennel, herbs and white pepper.

Medium long slightly acidic finish,

Not completely integrated and I'm not convinced age will achieve this.

This would definitely be better as a food wine.
A good tomato based pasta or pizza would do the trick I think.

9/25/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver with a gold tinge
Nose: Quite subdued. Lime, lemon, fennel/herbs, maybe apple with a tinge of peach.
Palette: Lime, peach, pear, fennel, an acid backbone with an unexpected (at this age) creamy finish.

It was popped and poured at the last minute to go with a salt and pepper squid dinner and is much more developed than I expected.
As usual though, it still has oodles of time left to develop.

9/23/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Pretty much the same as the last tasting notes in 2021 but more golden in colour and a less fruit and more secondary and tertiary flavours now predominate, very much a creamy butterscotch, creme brulee and honeyed concoction.

9/1/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

After working my way though a few of the 2010s over the last year I've come to the conclusion that at 13 years old they are past their prime.
Still ok to drink, but would be much better with more primary fruit and that has faded with age.
I reckon these would be at their peak around 5-7 years old.

8/29/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Deep purple / black, slight browning on the edge.
Nose: Leather, barnyard, some menthol, cherries, brambles
Palette: Mushrooms, cherries, dark chocolate, menthol, some brambly fruit and leather at the end of a medium long finish.
A medium bodied slightly rustic shiraz that is quite different to most Aussie shiraz, sort of a nice shiraz / pinot noir fusion of flavours without any pinot!

Still drinking well after 15 years, but wont improve from here.
I'll drink my last bottle within the next year or so.

8/12/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Very dark crimson, opaque
Nose: Menthol, currents, brambles, leather
Palette: Black current, pepper, anise, menthol, red current, nutmeg, maybe a hint of milk chocolate
.
Quite a long cream, reasonably tannic finish.

Nice drink and given the tannins and the fact it opened up a lot as the night progressed I reckon it has quite a few years ahead of it yet.

8/4/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver gold
Nose: Peach, toast, honeysuckle, mango, vanilla
Palette: Honeysuckle, peach, mango, vanilla and sweetish lime and lemon finish.
Quite creamy, but with a nice citrus core.
Nice long finish.

Quite an elegant chardonnay, but with rich flavours.
It actually fits very nicely between the buttery and austere varieties.
Opened up as the night progressed, so has quite a few years ahead of it.
Don't drink to cold or the flavours will be lost.

5/17/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Silver gold
Nose: Melon, white nectarine, peach, figs, cashews and a touch of buttered toast.
Palette: Peach, nectarine, cashews, some lemon rind acidity around the edges and a bit of toastiness has now appeared since the last tasting.

Still has the acid backbone to go for a few more years.

5/13/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Crimson with a slight brownish tinge
Nose: Coffee, currents, blackberry, menthol and cedar
Palette: Blackberry, currants, marzipan, liquorice, menthol, pepper, cedar
Very creamy finish.

Quite a big porty wine and it's finally hitting it's stride.

This is the 3rd bottle of this vintage I've consumed and the 1st I've really enjoyed.
The previous bottles have been un-integrated and quite muddled in their flavours.
Looks like all that was needed was enough time.

4/20/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Clear gold with silver rim
Nose: Toast, lemon curd, white peach - not overly intense.
Palette: Lemon curd and peel, white peach, honey, salted almond.

Rich, long, slightly salty toast and lemon pith finish that coats the tongue.

Very nice wine that is probably in it's peak drinking window.

Do not serve it to cold or you'll lose the flavours!

4/15/2023 - corkus wrote:

Colour: Bright gold
Nose: Butterscotch, Creme Brulee, toast
Palette: Butterscotch, creme brulee, hazelnut, buttered toast, peach and nectarine on the finish

Very rich wine that is still going stong even after 14 years.
Lovely long creamy finish.

Last bottle unfortunately, as I think it'll still be good for at least another few years.

4/6/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark crimson
Nose: Graphite, plum, blackcurrant, bit of leather
Palette: Blackcurrant, plum, liquorice,dark chocolate, graphite.

Bit of a green tannin edge to the finish that detracts from the overall taste, maybe it'll disappear as the wine ages but at the moment it's a problem.

The wine still needs a bit of integration, so I'll try it again in 5 years or so.

Very dry and would be great I think with a big juicy steak.

3/9/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Pretty much Ditto to the tasting notes last year.
Maybe a bit of pepper and liquorice has crept in to make the nose and palette a bit fuller, or maybe it's just a variation, the bottle is sealed with cork after all.
The good news is it was drunk over 2 days and didn't change much on day 2 so it has a few years ahead of it.

3/3/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark purple, crimson edge
Nose: Blueberry, cherry, musk, mint, blackcurrant
Palette: Blueberry, cherry, pepper, mint

Quite a lot going on here.

Elegant wine, with ageing potential, but drinking quite nicely at 4 years of age.

Recommended.

3/3/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Bright gold
Nose: Ripe peach, toast, butterscotch
Palette: Ripe peach, butterscotch, lemon pith, toast, buttery finish

Probably a little bit past it's prime, but still drinking very well.

Not sure how many years it has left, but there's a bit of acid still around, so maybe longer than I think.

1/28/2023 - corkus wrote:

Basically ditto from the one last year, but I think the flavours are gradually getting richer and more in sync.
Years to go if I can resist.

1/21/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: purple / black
Nose: musk, blackberry, pepper
Palette: Blackberry, musk, pepper, menthol, cinnamon

Longish chalky tannins and hot acidic finish.

Quite varietal, not complex, very much primary flavours.

1/14/2023 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Clear, light gold / silver
Nose: Apricot, peaches, ginger.
Palette: Apricots, peaches, gingerbread, cream.

Lovely and rich with a slightly creamy / oily medium long finish.

Very nice wine, but I think it's made to drink young.

I've just tacked on another point as the wine opened up over the evening and some very pleasant vanilla notes appeared which really filled out the flavour profile.

12/31/2022 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark purple / black reddish brown edge
Nose: Blackberries, menthol, pencil shavings / cigar box, lavender, star anise
Palette: Blackberries, lavender, menthol, chocolate, liquorice, pepper, star anise

Very rich palette and nice long finish that still has an acidic backbone making the wine seem younger than it's years. Probably means it has a good life ahead of it as well.

Very nice wine.

12/25/2022 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Very dark purple, garnet tinge
Nose: Menthol, cloves, black currant
Palette: Menthol, musk, black current, plum.

Missing a bit of the depth of fruit I'd expected and somewhat acidic, drying finish, a bit short.

Not as good as I'd thought it would be, especially at this price point.
Didn't improve much over the night as it was drunk.
Not overly complex.

Wasn't bad, but more like a $30 wine that a $100+ wine.

12/9/2022 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: black / purple
Nose: Nutmeg, liquorice, berries
Palette: Milk chocolate, brambly berries, liquorice, mulberry, menthol, pepper

Very rich.

Each bottle is improving with age.

11/21/2022 - corkus wrote:

Colour: Light gold / silver
Nose: Subdued, apricot and ginger
Palette: Slightly unripe apricot, a bit green with caramel and bitter lemon and lime to finish.

Not one of the best Virgilius I've had.
It' has a hollow middle palette and does not have the richness and integrated ripe flavours of other vintages I've enjoyed.
The finishing bitterness also detracts from it.

11/12/2022 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Dark crimson, some purple and brick red
Nose: Red liquorice, musk, cherries, currants, leather and tar.
Palette: Black currant, cherries, red liquorice, white pepper, chocolate with a bit of Hunter sweaty saddle leather to finish.

Quite sweet fruit but with a drying finish.

Very nice plonk and may continue to evolve for a few more years.

10/28/2022 - corkus Likes this wine:

Very dark and dense.
Not a lot of complexity, but rich and intense.
Lots of plum, blackberry on the palette with cinnamon cream and mulberry and pepper to finish.

Simple, but pleasant and overbearing.

10/28/2022 - corkus Likes this wine:

Colour: Golden / silver with slight orange tint.
Nose: Buttered toast, butterscotch, yellow peach, cashews?
Palette: Quite rich, nectarine, peach, toast and lanolin, lemon/lime finish.
Quite a long creamy finish.

More buttery and toasty than previous tasting so it is gradually evolving.
Seems a bit more acidic as well, which is strange.

Make sure you don't drink it straight from the fridge, it needs to warm up a bit to show it's pedigree.