Meanwhile, at London’s International Wine and Spirit Competition, Evans & Tate’s 1999 Margaret River Shiraz was named both Best Red Wine and Best Shiraz. 75% of the fruit was sourced from Evans & Tate’s new plantings in the Jindong region, the remainder coming from Willyabrup. I tasted the two separate components earlier in the year, finding the Jindong portion forward and juicy, firm and fleshy, with dark cherry and raspberry/tomato influences. I greatly preferred the Wilyabrup component from the company’s Redbrook vineyard; a tighter, fine-grained wine of suppleness and complex spicy, smoky aromas. The finished blend, a tight, fine and spicy wine with bright savoury fruit (17.0, drink 2001-2004) will be available from December at the reasonable price of $26.50 per bottle.
