2014 Mollydooker Shiraz Carnival of Love

Community Tasting Notes (64) Avg Score: 93.3 points

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  2/14/2024 - Praxis wrote: 93 Points

  Day 1: Deep blackish purple in color with a nice nose of matured black, purple and dark purple fruits with notes of vanilla oak, and menthol. The palate is on the lower end of full-bodied, very well structured, relatively smooth and silky texture with a degree freshness to it and obviously big and rich. However, there is a certain sweetness that strikes me as artificially derived (which I think is most likely derived from the copious amount of alcohol in this wine - 16.5% ABV) which I find rather excessive and distracting. In terms of its taste profile, this big and flavorsome wine is driven by a rich fruity core of dark matured fruits, with impressions of rich vanilla cream, oak, eucalyptus oil, and menthol and a hint of earthy minerality. I will have to revisit this tomorrow to see how this develops. Day 2: The nose has grown to be more generous especially with the vanilla and oak notes, but the more subtle impressions of raw meat, freshly ground cardamom and damp forest floor began to emerge. Similarly, the various flavor components that was became more pronounced while the alcohol-driven sweetness though not completely disappeared has dialed down considerably just enough to make its little bit more tolerable. Day 3: Finally, all the components seems to be in their rightful place, the aromatics are phenomenal and intoxicating. The alcoholic component has mellowed out to the point where you can actually enjoy the wine. This big bruiser of a wine is drinking amazingly well tonight. 91 - 93
  
  Over the years I’ve heard and read much about this wine in the sense that it’s one of those that you either absolutely adore it or abhor it. As a huge fan of big, rich and concentrated fruit-driven South Australian reds, I made it a point to try this wine but unfortunately this particular brand was not available in the country that I am residing. Long story short --- but now that I have finally got to acquire one in one of my trips and taste it, and all I can say is: I can totally see this wine's merits and why many become fervent aficionados of this "unapologetically iconoclastic" type of wine. But in terms of balance, fruit quality and overall impact, I’ve had many other equally bodaciously big and bold South Australians Shirazes that in my humble opinion are at par if not better than this at the similar or even lower price range. Perhaps branding, marketing, distribution and exposure given by certain wine publications (or the lack of it) have something to do with it. Nonetheless, I can't think of a more appropriate wine to open on this Valentine's Day.

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  5/20/2023 - _Xenon Likes this wine: 97 Points

  Gentlemen's birthday weekend - wine tasting journey: Liguria & the Cote d'Azur; 5/18/2023-5/20/2023 (Perinaldo, Liguria, Italy & Cote d'Azur France): The last wine of the weekend was clearly the winner. Everyone loved it. Expressive notes of vanilla and Coca-Cola, which filled the room immediately. We were sniffing all the time and smiling and promised that we will do that kind of tasting and travelling to Liguria / the Cote d'Azur again.
  
  Not to mention - some will love this winery, some will hate it. I simply adore it with the Boxer as the best qpr and Carnival of Love as the highlight. First tasted the 2012 after being #2 of Winespectator's wine of the year.
  
  Bought some in 2017 for 120 €, current market value a bit higher.

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  4/26/2023 - sid_loves_wine Likes this wine: 94 Points

  My first time trying this level of Mollydooker, after having various experiences with most of their other wines beneath it. I've enjoyed pretty much all of them so far, but never quite felt like they FULLY lived up to their reputation for super-rich flavor bombs- until I tasted this.
  
  Although it's obviously very rich and imposing, I feel like that dramatic repuation may be blown out of proportion a bit when it comes to this winery. That is, it didn't feel notably fatter than the other Barossa/McLaren bruisers it competes with, such as similarly-priced offerings from Amon-Ra, Torbreck, and so on. Maybe it's on the *slightly* large side even for that style, but not by much. I felt it was an incredibly well-balanced wine *for the style*- totally avoiding a sense of cloying sweetness, over-oaking, or excessive heat- even with the ridiculous extraction, oak, and alcohol.
  
  Just a pungent but alluring perfume with ultra-black plum compote, rich coffee, cherry cordial, cedar, and vanilla bean. It's amazing how little sense of residual sugar there is (I think about half the amount found in Caymus, for example, or a bit less.) The fruit does an incredible job standing up to the 100% new American oak too, showing at the fore where many other wines would smell entirely like vanilla. The palate is exactly the same, blooming with intense fruit that's given balance and complexity with the sweet coffee and woodsy vanilla accents. Obviously it's not an acid-driven wine, but it's not flabby at all either, just silky and packed with vivacious flavor.
  
  I think the key with stuff like this is to drink it SPECIFICALLY without food. It's far too rich for pretty much anything except the heaviest BBQ meats, and those might need a bit more acidic cut from something like a Cornas. This is a cocktail wine for sure, delicious and sexy on its own, and hogging the spotlight. Don't serve it before any other wine, either. Not the kind of thing you'd want to drink every day, but we sipped it slowly at the end of the night and enjoyed every drop.

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  7/10/2022 - danielbleier Likes this wine: 91 Points

  I love that Mollydooker creates perhaps the most divergent reviews in major wine criticism (WS 95, Vin 70). I like this wine very much, but understand that for fans of restraint and balance this wine will be largely undrinkable. Very smooth and lush, with bold cherry and berry notes - best drunk as a stand alone and not w food.

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  5/23/2022 - _Xenon Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Franks Wotn. Good showing as some bottles were a bit laid back. Even for this wine with an age of 8 years, decanting helped. Always a pleasure to drink.

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