Ben Schild Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz 2008

Ben Schild Barossa Valley Reserve Shiraz 2008

Another tasting of a much enjoyed wine from earlier in the year - tasted with L and Pat in town visiting for Michelle's shower - great accompaniment to artisan cheeses and fresh fruit. This wine is dedicated to the producer patriarch Ben Schild who has been farming the Schild Estate Three Springs property in Rowland Flat Barossa since 1952. Today the property is farmed by second and third generation Schilds. Fruit for this wine is sourced from a single vineyard in the Hills overlooking Lyndoch where the elevated location and cooling winds helped temper the effects of a warm year resulting in earlier ripening thereby avoiding a late season heat wave that afflicted other growers in the Southern Barossa.

By the way, it is worth noting again this remarkable interesting side note; this is not the same wine but it is the same producer and vintage as the Schild Barossa Shiraz that after receiving high reviews, 94 points, and placing in Wine Spectator’s Top 10 Wines of the Year in 2010, naturally subsequently sold out. Schild then proceeded to purchase, blend and bottle additional wine from other producers, but still market such under the 'same' label. Extraordinary, unethical, deceptive, conniving, but legal, none-the-less.

(Imagine buying a new Ford but finding out Ford ran low on engines and purchased and provided alternative replacement engines from some other supplier. (See Bait and Switch?; Schild Estate: Questionable Bottling Practices in 2008 Shiraz; What Makes a Wine a Wine?).

Only after being challenged by reporters did the winery affix an extra label to the secondary bottlings identifying them as a second blend.

The colour of the Reserve was deep dark Ruby Red and inky purple. Huge aromas of blue fruits and violets give way to bright vibrant concentrated tongue coating flavors bursting with blueberry, black raspberry, ripe plum and chocolate, with hints of black pepper, spice and nicely integrated oak on a long lingering soft tannin finish.


My earlier review gave this 93 points (with a footnote of possibly warranting a 94) ... this time there emerged a bit of a graphite tone which detracted somewhat from the fruit so I took off a point. .

RM 92 points .

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1386115

http://schildestate.com.au/ben-schild-reserve-shiraz