2013 Heritage Wines (Steve Hoff) Shiraz Rossco's

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 91 points

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  2/18/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Scored as 'excellent' on the CT scale, the wine is under the dread cork and this note is made across two days of sampling the wine, un-decanted.
  
  2013 was a terrific vintage across the extremely large and diverse land of Oz. This wine should be good and it is. Whilst more expensive than the standard range, it still represents very good value. The caveats are two; you have to like old fashioned Oz warm climate Shiraz and you also have to be able to appreciate an approach to wine making that reflects Mr Hoff's deep history in the craft.
  
  This wine speaks to me of the old Australian styles, where Shiraz made wines called Burgundy (soft, full but lighter in the mouth than the other styles), Hermitage (bold, earthy, potent) and Claret (tighter, more tannic, berry focused). This was basically from the 1800's to the late 1970's, or so. At that time there was very little Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon in Oz that had survived the Phylloxera plague of the late 19th Century, so Shiraz did everything. From the late 1960's increasing plantings of other grape varieties took place and there was a renewed interest in varietal wines. The terms 'Claret', 'Burgundy' etc. continued to be used until the early 1990's when legal, diplomatic and commercial pressures intervened. However, the use of varietal labels had increased to the point where the legally enforced change didn't make a huge difference.
  
  This wine is what would once have been called 'Hermitage'. Interestingly, it has a relative grace in the mouth that one doesn't expect. However, it speaks to me of tradition in Oz winemaking and of a wine maker who came of age in the late 1970's -early 1980's when winemaking went through a distinct phase. There is oak, but it has now settled and integrated. It comes through as spice and pencil box and some slightly wider grained tannins. There is Marananga earth, rich and loamy. This may also include some coffee elements from oak, but Marananga soil seems to give this character, even without oak. Marananga really is a distinct sub-region of the Barossa.
  
  Fruit is plentiful - plush and easy. Blackberry, dark plums and there is some black pepper.
  
  The wine has ripe, plentiful tannins that really pull things together on the (long) finish.
  
  In a way, 'Hermitage' might have been better swapped for 'Cornas', because if I had to go to a northern equivalent, that is the closest. It is also a somewhat old fashioned, controversial type. God bless both.

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