It’s given a large feature in this edition, so I won’t say much more about Tim Adams’ premier red, The Aberfeldy. As more of the country’s prestige labels from the 1998 vintage are released, this astonishing wine just looks better and better. Very few wines from this exceptional season outpoint it, and very few wines of its quality come close to its pricing. Most impressive to me is the confidence which Tim Adams shows in the style he has chosen to adhere to. It’s not going to seduce certain US critics with its thickness, alcohol or concentration, neither is it the type to win the plaudits of the Australian wine show judges. Instead, it’s close to what Tim Adams believes this old vineyard can do at its best – a wine of pure, dark mouthfilling fruit, carefully integrated oak and fine tight tannins. It’s a crafted wine, but a natural one, in which fruit is the key and winemaking artefact a secondary player. It’s the sort of shiraz we’ll all be looking for some day.
