‘Worse than cork taint’ is how Clare Valley winemaker Tim Adams referred to ‘random oxidation’, the name given to a deficiency that results in a significant percentage of wines sealed with cork revealing a range of symptoms of oxidation, from the minor to the severe. The date was last Thursday (October 21) and the occasion was a complete vertical tasting of Tim Adams’ flagship The Aberfeldy, a consistently elegant and long-living red made from century-old vines that entirely avoids the hotness and dead grape characteristics of so many modern Australian shirazes. The Aberfeldy only dates back to 1988 (the current release being 2002), yet three of the wines that passed Tim’s initial inspection lacked their typical freshness and vitality, one looking downright dead in the water. In at least one instance, even Tim wasn’t sure why the wine wasn’t looking better, and it took a suggestion from me to open a second bottle. In each case, the second bottle was a very different and vastly superior wine to the first. I’m not suggesting in the least that there’s anything awry with Tim’s palate or his understanding of his own wines, since it’s more than likely that I drink and taste more old Aberfeldy than he does. The reason behind this comment is that here was yet another instance I have experienced in which random oxidation was subtle enough even for the maker of the wine in question not to be 100% sure it was an issue with a slightly under-performing bottle. A brief flashback, now, to early July this year when I was tasting the last few thousand wines for the 2005 edition of my book. The 2002 Aberfeldy appeared, and simply looked ordinary by its own standards. There was no suggestion in the wine of cork taint or poor cellaring or transport. It just looked flat, slightly greenish and missing its usual depth of fruit. Not a bad wine, but not a particularly good wine either. I went ahead and published my notes and score, having no real reason to take issue with the bottle. I’ve been around long enough to know that disappointments happen all the time. I didn’t have a second bottle on hand, and if I did, I doubt I would have opened it. In an ideal world I might, but it’s hard enough tasting the number of wines I do without doubling it, just to make certain for each and every bottle. But when he read my notes, Tim Adams was immediately positive that I had rated a random-oxidised bottle. So, when I tasted the 2002 Aberfeldy last week, I got a surprise. A big one. It’s a beautiful, rare and refined wine. My new tasting notes are below. I have no doubt that the issue presently known as random oxidation is a massive one indeed. To a degree, it’s even more insidious than cork taint, because in many cases it’s even more difficult to detect. And at the sharp end of the market, where we are attempting to appreciate and analyse subtle differences of light and shade, a minor and undetected level of random oxidation can be sufficient to change entirely one’s impression of a wine. All Tim Adams red wines will shortly be available under screwcap. Tim Adams The Aberfeldy Shiraz 2002 A supple shiraz of wonderful brightness and polish. Its musky, ethereal and exotically spiced perfume of violets, peppermint and vibrant small berry fruit overlies restrained and fine-grained vanilla oak. Long, fine and seamless, its penetrative and tightly focused expression of pristine black berry fruit and sweet oak is framed by velvet-smooth, fine-grained tannins. It finishes long, with nuances of mint and dried herbs, with a faint suggestion of eucalypt. With fruit reminiscent of the 1994 and 1998 vintages, but a finer, perhaps better integrated cut of oak. (Clare Valley, 19.2, 97, drink 2014-2022)
