Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Consumers who give this immensely rich and oaky wine a couple of years to come together should reap the rewards around 2010, when the surface layers of vanilla, toasted coconut and caramel blend more readily with its blackberry core. The fruit shows through on the finish, so it should win out in the end.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep purple, the nose offers up cedar, smoke, meat, black raspberry, and a whiff of chocolate. This leads to a ripe, structured wine with excellent depth and lots of flavor. It will evolve for 2-3 years and provide pleasure through 2020.
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Wine & Spirits
Youthful and fresh, this shiraz offers a sweet and savory balance of lush blueberry fruit and juicy tannins. It's simple and satisfying with roast lamb on the bone with rosemary.
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.