Personally, I’m not especially excited that Tyrrell’s have released their Private Bin range for 2000 in a new package. Given that it’s the first revamp since 1962, I still think the new look for the Vat Nos. 1,6,8,9 and 47 undersells the quality and heritage of the brand. But, given that I’m a wine critic and not an art commentator nor marketing consultant, it’s perhaps fitting that most of what I say is about the contents of the bottles and not their external appearance. The 1994 Vat 1 Semillon (18.8, drink 2006-2014) comes from a hot vintage and its almost luscious, creamy mouthful of bright melon and lemon fruit certainly reflects that. It’s developing classic honey and toast bottle-aged qualities and despite its unusual generosity, manages a zesty finish of minerally acids. It’s the star of the range, marginally ahead of the 1999 Vat 47 Pinot Chardonnay (18.7, drink 2007-2011), an exceptional Hunter chardonnay destined to improve for longer than the average from this region. It has a delicate lemony and mineral fragrance and its bright, clean grapefruit, pineapple and lemon fruit qualities shine through some heavily worked leesy and barrel ferment complexity. It’s taut and refreshing, a delightful Chablis-like expression of chardonnay. Despite Tyrrell’s enthusiasm for the wine, I struggle to find much varietal definition in the Vat 6 Pinot Noir 1998 (16.0, drink 2003-2006). It’s cooked and stalky, and while there’s some lively cherry and plum fruit and toasty vanilla oak, it’s very firm and hard-edged. I like the Vat 8 Shiraz Cabernet 1997 (17.8, drink 2005-2009+) for its combination of earthy, spicy and musky regional Hunter shiraz with the lightly herby cassis and raspberry/cherry flavours of sweet Coonawarra cabernet. It’s rich and plummy, becoming leathery and its oak is nicely restrained. I’m not so confident in the long-term future of the bottle of Vat 9 Shiraz from 1994 (16.3, drink 1999-2003) I recently tasted, but it may just be slightly more advanced than the wine I have seen before. Drying out, savoury, nutty and leathery, it revealed complex spicy regional flavour development, but not much lively or sweet fruit. At around $50 per bottle across the range, the whites stand out handsomely from the rest of the pack, even if I’m stodgy and traditional enough to prefer the older label…
