Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Mollydooker "The Enchanted Path" Shiraz Cabernet

Mollydooker "The Enchanted Path" McLaren Vale South Australia Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2005  

One of my favorite meals is barbecue ribs with baked potato and peas with a robust Shiraz. We submitted papers for a family milestone event and held a personal mini tribute to my recently departed mother by opening this premium label vintage release with dinner for a perfect pairing.

This is the inaugural release of Mollydooker produced by Sarah and Sparkie Marquis who I recently featured in a post about the producers and the Mollydooker brand in a horizontal tasting of Aussie shiraz's.   

We hold a half dozen vintages of this label and pulled this vintage release, the oldest in our collection, as part of proper cellar management. This reduces the chances of keeping wines past their prime drinking window. Of course, variations in vintages need to also be considered, as some vintages have longer lives than others. Collectors need to follow vintage charts or others' tasting notes for absolute guidance on vintage management. That is a reason I often take care to comment on the status of older bottles in our collection.

This is Syrah (2/3) based accented by Cabernet Sauvignon (1/3). 

This unique blend really works with the Cabernet adding breadth and depth to the big black inky purple colored full bodied Shiraz. The result is a powerful full bodied complex wine with concentrated forward chewy tongue coating black berry and black cherry fruits accented by ripe plum and spice, a layer of vanilla and hints of mocha and anise with fine silky tannins on the long finish.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave this wine a whopping 96 points and wrote in their review: "The 2005 Enchanted Path (66% Shiraz and 34% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in primarily American oak, 60% new) is fashioned from relatively young vines. It reveals an amazing opaque purple/blue/black color (always a hallmark of Marquis wines), a full-bodied, powerful, smoky nose, extravagant layers of fruit, spice, glycerin, and extract, full body, superb intensity, tremendous richness, and a seamless personality. It is a textbook example of a southern Australian red at its richest, fullest, and most pure. For consumers with open minds and progressive palates, this amazing red should age beautifully for 10-15 years. Drink through 2021+"

Opaque black inky garnet colored, full bodied, rich, concentrated yet elegant and polished with balanced harmonious black berry fruits exude aromatics that leap out of the glass with notes of plum, vanilla and hints of black pepper, followed by notes of dark chocolate mocha, licorice and spice turning to velvet smooth tannins on a long smooth finish.

RM 94 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=247775

www.mollydookerwines.com

 

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