Although they’re just off the bottling line and some weeks away from release, Majella’s new 2001 reds clearly represent a welcome return to its late 1990s form. Scented with violets and dried herbs, the 2001 Cabernet reveals a searing intensity of deep, dark blackcurrant and mulberry fruit that ably handles its generous measure of dark chocolate and vanilla oak. It’s long and firm, but there’s something special about its smooth, yet robust structure that suggests a long cellaring life ahead. The Shiraz 2001 is marginally the better wine of the pair. Its heady, spicy aromas of blackberries, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper are complemented by what might be considered in wines carrying less fruit as a substantial amount of oak. Here, it fits the ticket perfectly. The palate is long and penetrative, with superbly accentuated and deeply flavoured spicy and briary fruit found in excellent balance with new oak and framed by pliant tannins. I also re-tasted the company’s flagship The Malleea 2000, which is just the sort of wine that tends to get me offside with many of the drinking public. While it is unquestionably a wine with richness, texture and flavour, plus some not unimpressive structure, there are reasons that prevent me from marking it in silver medal (17/20) territory. Firstly, the fruit reflects too broad a band of ripeness, from herbaceous and slightly sour-edged through a normal range, then to over-ripe and meaty. Secondly, there’s a musky, perfumed and charry aspect about its oak that I simply don’t like, largely because it stands apart from the rest of the wine and doesn’t integrate. Having said that, it’s a good, honest wine made from a difficult year that deserves a bronze medal mark (in the range 15.5-16.9/20). Public reaction to my score suggests there are plenty of people who rate it more highly than I. However, like other critics and judges I respect, I have to point the wine the way I see it, and not try and second-guess how the drinking public are likely to respond towards it.
