Australia

Rating

94+

Release Price

NA

Drink Date

NA

Reviewed by

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

30th Jun 2009

Source

183, The Wine Advocate

The 1990 performed well in the tasting, but, along with the 1980, was the least impressive of these Granges. The 1990 is loosely knit, seems to border on overripeness with its jammy character, and has a slightly more aggressive style of tannin ... or are the acids more pronounced? It is certainly outstanding, displaying full body along with a classic smoky, blackberry, cassis, pepper, and forest floor-scented bouquet. Of all these wines, it appears to be the most evolved. Grange, Penfolds’ flagship wine, is, by many accounts, the most renowned and world-famous wine produced in Australia, and these six vintages from my cellar all acquitted themselves well. These wines are almost always Shiraz, but many vintages include less than 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and there are cross-appellations blends from vineyards in the Barossa and McLaren Vale.

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. 

Rating:

94

Price ($)

$78

Drink Date

2002 - 2018

Reviewed by

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

30th Oct 2002

Source

143, The Wine Advocate

It's a no-brainer with respect to the dense purple-colored 1998 Shiraz Stonewell. The wine is inky/purple-colored, with oodles of blackberry and cassis fruit intermixed with hints of honeysuckle, wood, earth, and pepper. This full-throttle, majestic offering is super-concentrated and rich, with a wealth of glycerin, fruit, and extract. There is plenty of tannin lurking under the surface, but it is nearly obscured by the wine's exceptional depth. Anticipated maturity: now-2018.   

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

$325

Drink Date

2010 - 2040

Reviewed by

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

31st Oct 2006

Source

167, The Wine Advocate

One of Australia’s most prodigious Syrahs, Clarendon Hills’ 2004 Syrah Astralis is fashioned from vines planted in 1920, and spends time in 100% new French oak from the cooper, Cadus. It boasts off the charts intensity as well as an opaque purple color, and notes of spring flowers, blueberries, blackberries, roasted coffee beans, pepper, smoke, and a hint of sweet toasty oak. This full-bodied, rich, intense, backward Syrah needs 2-3+ hours in the decanter if one is going to approach it at this point in its life. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040+.  

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.   

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2008 Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz (a blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon and 49% Shiraz) is a little restrained on the nose, presenting earthy, black truffle, moss covered bark and loam aromas over gentle notes of cassis, crushed blackberries, chocolate mint and pencil shavings, plus a fragrant whiff of cloves. Medium to full bodied, very ripe and rich in the mouth, the complex, layered fruit is densely packed and well supported by firm, finely grained tannins and very crisp acid. The finish is very long with a subtle hint of mint interspersed with warm berries, vanilla and baking spices. Consider drinking it 2015 to 2025+. Only about 900 cases were made of this wine.

Score: 98+ Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (199), February 2012

Deep garnet-purple in color and sporting a very forward and expressive, creme de cassis-led nose with hints of dried mint, dark chocolate and cigar boxes plus a whiff of dried herbs following, the full-bodied 2010 Cellar Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a rich, concentrated and classic Barossa Cabernet style shaped by medium to firm, grainy tannins and crisp acid. It finishes very long. Drink now to 2015+.