Australia

One of my favorite wines from Penfolds, the 1986 (a blend of 87% Shiraz and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon) is one of the most powerful Granges produced (14+% alcohol). At age 23, it reminds me of the way it tasted around 9 years of age. Inky/purple to the rim with an extraordinary perfume of sweet licorice, crushed pepper, blackberry liqueur, camphor, and barbecue spices, this sensationally full-bodied, concentrated, layered 1986 is still an infant in terms of its ultimate potential. It is remarkable how this wine has aged, and it’s hard to believe how certain wine geeks will subscribe to the aging ability of the Grange, but don’t believe the same is true for other old vine Shiraz wines from the Barossa and McLaren Vale. It just doesn’t make any sense. The 1986 is one of the greatest Granges for my palate, and it appears to still have 25-30 years of upside. (98+ points)

Score: 98

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate Maturity: 2009-2039

Rating

99

Release Price

$100

Drink Date

1998 - 2038

Reviewed by

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

26th Jun 1998

Source

117, The Wine Advocate

An Austrian winemaker named Rolf Binder, who is also the winemaker for Veritas, has produced this intriguing wine. It takes winemaking to the extreme, yet manages to pull it off without producing a total freak.. How do you describe a wine such as this? Yields were a minuscule one ton of fruit per acre from 60-year old vines, production was 100 cases, and the wine's alcohol content is a mammoth 16.5%. This wine, which lasted four days in the bottle before I decided to pass the balance through my bowels, displays an opaque black/purple color, and exotic, coffee, chocolate, Asian spice, roast duck, and blackberry and prune liqueur-like aromas. To say the wine is unctuously-textured is an understatement. This wine looks like 10-W-40 motor oil. Very thick and dry, yet remarkably balanced, with fabulous purity, and a finish that goes on for nearly a minute, this spectacular Shiraz will become more civilized with each year of aging. It is the type of wine some Pomerol estates produced in such vintages as 1947, 1949, and 1950, but would not dare to fashion today because modern oenologists refuse to let the grapes become this ripe. A winemaking tour de force, The Malcolm Shiraz should age effortlessly for 40 or more years. 

Reviewed by

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

23rd Aug 2003

Source

148, The Wine Advocate

The virtually perfect, limited production (1,000 cases) cuvee of 2002 Shiraz Integrity is a 100% Shiraz fashioned from four specific vineyard blocks (surprisingly young vines of 4-6 years in age). It boasts terrific minerality, structure, definition, and prodigious levels of concentration as well as perfume. An inky/black color is followed by aromas of melted road tar, licorice, Asian spices, sweet creme de cassis as well as blackberries, and a hint of acacia flowers. There is compelling density, great purity, and tremendous viscosity, yet it is not over the top. There is real definition/delineation to this large-scaled Shiraz. It was aged in 100% new American oak for 13 months. A tour de force in winemaking, it stood out as one of the most singular and greatest wines I tasted for this report. Anticipated maturity: now-2012. Two of South Australia’s leading viticulturists/winemakers are undoubtedly husband and wife Sarah and Sparky Marquis. Their goals are common sense ones of “creating fruit weight, velvety sensations, and harvesting on ripeness, not sugar readings.” Perhaps their finest accomplishment has been to prove that high quality wines can be produced at a price point that thrills most wine consumers. P.S. Perhaps another way to think of these wines is that they are XXX-rated stuff. They’re not exactly wines for those wanting finesse, lightness, restraint, or intellectual challenge. These are totally decadent homages to joy and yumminess. Or, as a friend of mine said, they are “fragrantly delicious.”  

AY S MILLER: 99

THE WINE ADVOCATE: 99

The flagship 2004 Run Rig is 96.5% Shiraz and 3.5% Viognier with the Shiraz component aged for 30 months in a mixture of new and used French oak. Yields were a minuscule 14 hl/ha (about 1 ton per acre). Saturated opaque purple/black, it has a remarkably kinky, exotic perfume of fresh asphalt, pencil lead, smoke, pepper, game, blueberry and black raspberry. Full-bodied and voluptuous in the mouth, the wine is dense and packed, with amazing purity, sweet tannins, and a complex collection of sensory stimuli. The wine demands 10 years of cellaring and will provide hedonistic delights through 2035+. 

Rating

98

Release Price

$110

Drink Date

2016 - 2041

Reviewed by

Jay S Miller

Issue Date

25th Feb 2009

Source

181, The Wine Advocate

The flagship of Kilikanoon is the 2006 Attunga 1865 Shiraz. Thick and rich, it coats the glass with glycerin. It gives up a brooding bouquet of wood smoke, game, truffle, espresso, leather, blueberry, and blackberry leading to a massive, masculine, full-bore Shiraz with dense, spicy fruit, a splendid integration of oak, tannin, and acidity, and a 60-second finish. It merits a decade of cellaring and will reward those with discipline with 25 years of pleasurable drinking from 2016 to 2041.