Clarendon Hills Brookman Vineyard Syrah 1998
Syrah/Shiraz
from McLaren Vale, Australia
winemaker's notes:
The appearance is still of a very intense wine with a red/black mixture that is impenetrable to the eye.
On the bouquet that this wine shows particularly savory characters with nuts, fennel and herbal touches along with a briary, woody overlay. Not forgetting that there are some lovely fruit flavors peeping through, and these are in the red berry spectrum.
When you taste the wine the fruit flavors are far more prominent, with raspberry and red currant dominating. The alcohol is a very respectable 13.5 degrees. The wine is soft at the finish, as this is in total harmony with the fruit and the aromas.
The softness certainly makes the wine an attractive drinking proposition in its youth, although the balance of the wine will allow it to develop further in the bottle. There is every reason to believe that this particular wine will still be drinking well in 7 to 10 years.
Look towards food that will spotlight the herbal aniseed flavors. Cubes of Veal braised slowly with some fennel bulbs amongst other vegetables will certainly bring out this character.
