Some people might have noticed rather a lot of noise and chatter on the Internet of late concerning the contribution I recently made to Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar publication. Much of the reaction concerns the reality that many of the Australian wines that have been given extremely high ratings by some American critics are considered in this country to be mutations of style rather than refinements.
It might however surprise many people that I do enjoy some of the richer, riper shirazes from regions like the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. The ones I prefer and rate highly are those – like any other wines I enjoy drinking and rate highly – that are balanced. In my view, the same basic rules should apply to all wine, whether delicate, moderate or outright over the top.
It is possible for great Barossa or McLaren Vale shiraz of the traditional Australian style to be perfectly balanced.
Look at Rockford’s Basket Press Shiraz for example, or the 1998 Penfolds RWT, the 1996 Peter Lehmann Eight Songs and Stonewell, or the 1995 Maglieri Steve Maglieri Shiraz. Beyond any issue of style or preference for one style over another, the principal reason that many of these ultra-ripe shirazes have not rated as highly in recent years against some cooler region wines is that the wines themselves are poorly structured.
This has become clearer to me in recent days, since I have recently tasted hundreds more 2001 reds. The extreme heat of this vintage certainly made life difficult for vineyards and winemakers alike. Many wines were harvested with a full complement of sugar-ripeness, producing normal alcoholic strengths. Many have arrived at reasonable levels of acidity, either naturally or through adjustment.
Matters of Taste
Those people who go by numbers alone will probably rate it a great vintage. But it’s in the department of flavour and structure that the inadequacies of many 2001 reds become clear. They are usually packed with up-front fruit of some intensity, so their immediate appeal is obvious. All too often, however, that’s where they begin to fall apart, through a combination of over-ripe and dehydrated or stressed fruit characters, plus a lack of brightness and length.
Taste warm to hot climate wines from fully ripe but non-stressed vintages such as 1996, 1995, 1994 and 1991 and you’ll see how substantial the differences are. It’s not unreasonable that some of the cooler regions have been able to produce wines of superior balance and evenness of ripening in these recent hotter, drier years. Meantime, I accept that I have upset dozens of people by down-marking their favourite wines. My point is simple: the seasons have not been kind to a lot of them, so taste before you buy.
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