Winemaker Notes
Pairs with meat, anything chocolate, cheese, or savor it on its own with good friends.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Coming from row selection within a single vineyard, the 2010 Velvet Glove was matured in American oak, 97% new. Very deep garnet-black, it offers very pure, pronounced notes of ripe cassis and blackberries with underlying nuances of cedar, anise, hung meat, black tea and violets. Full bodied, very ripe and with layers of generous fruit, the opulence is well supported with a medium to high level of fine-grained tannins and crisp acid. It finishes very long. It should be at its best 2014 to 2024+. Unfortunately because of an accident at the warehouse during which about 1/3 of the production was destroyed, there are only 1012 cases.
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Wine Spectator
Broad, ripe and generous, singing with red berry, cherry and spice flavors that join in a lusty chorus as the finish sails on and on. Has depth and power. The structure just melts into the whole package seamlessly, and the flavors seem to scale higher and higher with each sip. Drink now through 2020.
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.