Community Tasting Notes 5

• Dr S Likes this wine: 95 points

  January 24, 2024 - 2014 Koomilya
  
  If I could see only two vineyards in Oz before I time out, the first would be Wendouree in the Clare Valley. Any serious lover of great Shiraz or historic Australian wine needs to make the pilgrimage. The second vineyard is Steve Pannell’s Koomilya in McLaren Vale. The two are twained in different ways.
  
  Pannell’s formative winemaking years were in the Clare, where he would visit the Brady’s at Wendouree one evening a week to absorb what it was all about. Like the original Wendouree vines, Koomilya was planted originally in the 19th century (with Pannell planting new vines (Touriga, Tempranillo, Graciano and other hot wine country stuff) and grafting over existing vines (Gewurtz to Shiraz). Raised in Margaret River with impeccable pedigree (Mosswood), Pannell is a spiritual son of the Vale. He envisages the wines coming from Koomilya as expressing the site’s singularity. In that he’s striving to capture the vineyard’s personality in the way Wendouree does with its secluded block in the Clare.
  
  Lest there be any confusion, he’s not aiming to make a Wendouree clone in McLaren Vale. His vision is for Koomilya to be to the Vale what Wendouree is to the Clare. A profound statement of place, of roots, of what the vineyard feels like – its rhythm, its soul.
  
  I got turned onto Pannell’s Koomilya venture by a piece Philip Rich wrote a decade or so ago about the new wave in the Vale (Ministry of Clouds, Bekkers etc). What caught my interest was his comment that the most interesting wine he’d seen was unfinished, a Shiraz out of a large 2,800 ltr barrel that Pannell had shown him. That wine emerged as the maiden Koomilya, a 2013 from the DC Block. The 2014 combines the various blocks into a single vineyard wine.
  
  Great colour still. Dark purple/black, tinged with crimson on the rim. Pretty uncompromising statement on night one. An amalgam of dark fruits, mineral and bush characters, spice and iron. Heroic tannins in a Wendouree mould – but with a different texture and weave. It seemed to defy time, in a more primary state than when tasted on release where it seemed finer but not as potent as the 2013 DC Block. No manicure here.
  
  It really came into its own on night two, drawing me back again and again to try to pin down its characters. Tasted from two Riedel Shiraz-specific glasses. The differences between the two were more than variations on a theme, and thus bear setting out.
  
  Riedel Shiraz bowl – a hot summer day’s dust, cumin and cardoman, ferrous, liquorice strap somewhere in the background, boysenberry, blueberry, a whisper of gum and a sense of…Koomilya?! Compared with the other glass, seemed rounder, ample mid-section (no hourglass waist here sorry, if that’s your thing), good intensity and grip. Something old-fashioned about the tannin and texture that works for me. Finishes with jube gum and spicy/dustiness, a pleasing unpolished sensation. Authenticity.
  
  Riedel Shiraz tulip – brooding, harder to unravel the many threads. Flashes of iodine, salinity, spicy, sandy against a black and blue fruit backdrop. At once long legged (‘Walk this way’!!) and commanding, as well as muscular, more of that sinewy tannin. Highly detailed, fruit and savoury elements galore, more of those saline characters you see (and want if you are pure) in Vale Grenache but rarely in Shiraz from anywhere. And once finished, a lingering perfume in the glass of blueberry, Dutch cinnamon biscuit (the only hint of oak, if it’s that), a whisper of iron and that sandy note you see in St Joseph – and sometimes in darker versions of Vale Grenache.
  
  Koomilya. What a vineyard. One to watch. Potentially higher than 95 – in 10, 20, 30 years etc.

  2 people found this helpful Comment

• KiVi Likes this wine:

  October 13, 2023 - Lovely stuff. Next one in 2030. Couldn’t get enough of this one.

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• CBRwineguy Likes this wine: 90 points

  December 27, 2017 - Adelaide Winery Post-Christmas Trip (Day 2 - McLaren Vale) (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia): Clear deep ruby with tears.
  
  Clean developing nose with a medium(-) intensity. The wine is quite savoury with generic meaty characters and dark fruit. Swirling reveals notes of black cherry.
  
  The wine is dry with medium acidity, medium(+) alcohol, and medium(+) body. The medium(+) level tannins are soft and velvety but grippy. The flavours have a medium intensity, and show notes of black cherry and meat, but also blackcurrant and fresh new leather that was not detected on the nose. The finish has a medium(+) length.
  
  This is a very good quality wine. The flavours are concentrated and have a great balance with the acidity and the alcohol. The velvety tannins hold on for the finish and capture some warmth from the alcohol. The neutral oak treatment does not interfere with the expression of the fruit. The finish is very enjoyable and has great length. The wine has some complexity, presenting primary and tertiary characteristics.
  
  This wine drinks well now, but is suitable for further ageing.

  Comment

• ricard Likes this wine: 93 points

  October 26, 2017 - An untypical Shiraz that didn't make me think of Syrah, of McLaren Vale, or of the Rhône for that matter. It made me think of something the winemaker was trying to say about the earth and the sky, about this little pocket of the world. This is a wild fermented wine, with an absolute minimum of artifice and intervention. Somewhat rustic, a touch chocolatey, and full of tension between expressive power and humble containment. A really interesting wine, a work of serious dedication and craftsmanship.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• deverett wrote: 95 points

  November 22, 2016 - Stunning McLaren Vale Shiraz here. Has opulence balanced impeccably with composure and a subtleness that belies its generosity. I didn't find this a massive wine at all but it is stuffed full of black fruits, olives and spices along with a meatiness that gives it great power through the mid palate and a length that just goes on and on. Beautiful powdery tannins round out the finish. This will live for ages, great stuff.

  1 person found this helpful Comments (1)

Pro Reviews 2

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2014
• Type Red
• Producer S.C. Pannell
• Varietal Shiraz
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Koomilya
• Country Australia
• Region South Australia
• SubRegion Fleurieu
• Appellation McLaren Vale
• UPC Code 2227728883878

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 179 (79%)
• Consumed 48 (21%)

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