Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A new offering from Kevin Mitchell is the 2003 Shiraz M Reserve, which is fashioned from a single vineyard in McLaren Vale. Aged 24 months in French and American oak hogsheads (40% new), this unfiltered blockbuster possesses fabulous stuffing along with sweet cassis and blackberry fruit, truffle, camphor, flower, and melted asphalt characteristics. With enormous flavor dimensions and a multi-layered texture, this is Australian Shiraz at its biggest, richest, and most intense. It should drink well for 15+ years.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.