Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bordering on perfection is the 2004 Shiraz Savitar. Made from 30- to 50-year-old vines, and aged 18 months in 100% new French hogsheads as well as smaller barriques, it boasts an opaque purple color, and an extraordinary nose of acacia flowers, blueberries, raspberries, and blacker fruits, melted licorice, and graphite. It possesses amazing intensity, great equilibrium, a fabulous, multi-layered mid-palate, and a blockbuster finish. This extraordinary Shiraz should prove to be one of the legends of southern Australia’s great 2004 vintage. Drink it over the next 12-15 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.