I went to a Shiraz tasting at Reading University on 21 October 2009.

In all, there were 14 bottles from my cellar – all collected on my 2003 trip to Australia - see previous article. 18 people turned up.

The SCR wine stewart and I opened the bottles at 4pm and we graded the wines according to the “sweetness”. The wines were decanted, filtered and returned to the wash bottles.

The most interesting fact was that they were all big on bouquet when we decanted it around 4 ish and at around 6pm, some of them have completely changed their character and have moved onto new hights.

Here is a quick summmary:

The Paringa Estate 2000 was very smooth and “merlot” like. This wine developed very little with the exposure to air. According to an Australian present, Mornington Peninsula – where Paringa is based – is very south and the temperature is normally too cool to cultivate shiraz.

As expected, 2002 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz (Barossa Valley)was excellent and had a bit of “pepper” kick. But what was surprising was that 1998 Bowen Estate (Coonawarra)developed a very peppery and even peppermint after taste at 6pm when it showed no signs of this at 4pm.

The 1998 Lawson’s Padthway, Orland Wines (Rowland Flat)) had a disel after taste and this was a winner of  several Gold Medals. By the way, I don’t believe in Gold Medals as I was at a wine show earlier this year and less than 20% of the wines on show were entered in the various competitons. The Gold Medal winners in several catergories were ok and no more.

The 1994 Stonewell, Peter Lehman (Barossa Valley ) was amasingly young despite the age and is still slightly tannic. This will keep easily for another 10 years.

The Two Hands Wines  – Bella’s Garden (Barossa Valley) and Lily’s Garden (McLaren Vale) were as expected big and plummy, almost inky. These wines developed very little between 4-6. They were almost releasing their full potential immediately.

The real stars of the show were 1999 Octavius Edition X, Yalumba  (Angaston) and St Andrews, Taylor’s Wines (Clara Valley). They were both highy complex wines that lingered on your palate.

As a result of this tasting, I am reconsidering my stance on Shiraz. I think that most of these wines need to be decanted and left for a couple of hours to develop before being served. I tend to uncock and finish the bottle within an hour.

(See my previous article for the list of wines at this tasting. Some of these wines are not marketed in this country. The only wines that are easily available are Two Hands Wines and Peter Lehman.)

Eddie@bottlesandcooks.com

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 I have to admit upfront that I don’t like Shiraz but I like Hermitage. Ok its the same grape. Let re-phrase myself – For a number of years I have tried to experiment outside the golden brotherhood of French, Spanish and Italian. In fact, I can honestly claim that I have spent thousands of pounds trying to educate my taste buds with “new world” wines but my conclusion is that I still prefer old world wines.

This week, I have put up 14 different bottles of shiraz from my cellar at a tasting at Reading University. The purpose is two fold: to see what people think and secondly, to get rid of some of the excessive stock I have.

The story goes something like this: In 2003, I was in Australia following England in the Rugby World Cup. Like most tourists, I went for a walk around “The Rock” where David Campese owns a “shirt” shop. As I walked towards Circular Quay, I noticed that there is a wine shop cum wine bar opposite the ferry terminal. I walked into the shop and looked around. The manager and I chatted and I said to him that I didn’t like Shiraz. Well, I left 30 minutes later with 10 cases to be shippped to England.

For the past 6 years, I have struggled to consume these 10 cases. Well, there are wines I began to like e.g. Two Hands but the vast majority was : I would drink it but I would not buy it again. As a nearly a bottle a day man (for the past 30 years), you can tell that its not my favourite drink.

The winers on show this week are:
2002     Bella’s Garden,
2002    Lily’s Garden, Two Hands Wines, McLaren Vale, Walkerville, S. Australia   

2002    E&E Black Pepper Shiraz, Barossa Valley Estate, Marananga, S. Australia   

2001     Oscar Semmler Shiraz, Dutschke Wines, Lyndoch, S.Australia   

2000    Estate Shiraz Special Release, Paringa Estate, Mornington Peninsula, Victora

1999    The Octavius Edition X, Yalumba, Angaston, South Australia

1998    Ampelon, Bowen Estate, Coonawarra, S. Australia

1998    Lawson’s Padthawy, Orlando Wines, Rowland Flat, S. Australia

1998    Metala, Langhorne Creek, Saltram Wine Estate, Angaston, S. Australia   

1998    Petaluma Coonawarra, Piccadilly, S. Australia

1998    Rosehill Shiraz, Mount Pleasant Wines, Pokolbin, New South Wales

1998     St Andrew’s Shiraz, Taylors Wines, Clara Valley, Auburn, S. Australia

1997    Eight Songs Shiraz, Peter Lehman Wines, Barossa Valley, S. Australia   

1994    Stonewell Barossa Shiraz, Peter Lehman Wines, Tanunda, S. Australia

I’ll tell you what everyone thinks later this week.

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