Hanging out for the holiday weekend, we opened our cellar for a tour to our new neighbor Mandy and her friend, colleague and guest Megan. She had professed to love big bold fruit forward wines, as we do. So, I pulled from the cellar a favorite big Aussie Shiraz for her to try for with the fresh garden salad and smoked grill dinner she and husband Chris were hosting/serving for the evening.
As I have written in the past in this blog, this review from back in October, 2014 I wrote, "Favorite Aussie Shiraz - Flinders 2005 Aging Gracefully".I raved about this wine when I discovered it several years ago and have featured it numerous times since in this blog. When I discovered this wine downstate in a local wineshop, I purchased some, then went back and purchased the remainder, then found and purchased more on-line. When I convinced local mega-merchant Binny's to obtain some more, I cleaned out their allocation too. At fifteen years, we still hold a half dozen bottles and continue to enjoy this big bold fruit filled Shiraz. Amazingly, tonight, it exceeded expectations and tasted as well as any remembrance I have of this label.
Regretably, as I have noted in the past, this came on the scene
with this and one other vintage release, then disappeared, not to be seen again.
According to their website, it appears to still be in production, but
its not to be found in distribution in Chicagoland, or in the on-line
wine community.
Indeed, the Flinders Run website (http://www.flindersrun.com.au/) states, "We knew from the first trials of the 2001 and subsequent 2003 vintages that the Flinders Run wines
were going to be something special, but nothing prepared us for the
overwhelming success, we would experience with the release of the 2005 Vintage. Subsequent vintages have been crafted in the same careful manner
exhibiting a consistency in flavour and style and most importantly
capturing the elegance of region climate and above all varietal
character."
That 2005 vintage got a raving 95 point review from legendary wine
critic Robert Parker, 92 points from Steve Tanzer's International Wine
Cellar, and 91 points from Wine Spectator. Parker wrote,"Purple/black in
color, the wine exhibits a big, brooding bouquet of pain grille, pepper,
Asian spices, blueberry, blackberry, and licorice. This leads to a
full-bodied (15.2% alcohol), super-rich, plush wine with layers of spicy
black fruit flavors, excellent balance, and a long, pure finish. For a
wine of this size, it is remarkably light on its feet. Give it 2-3 years
to more fully evolve and drink it through 2020. This is quite a debut
for Flinders Run!"
Winemaker's notes: "The 2005 Shiraz was aged for 18 months in French and American oak
hogsheads with 50% new French oak staves. Purple/black in color, the
wine exhibits a big, brooding bouquet of pain grille, pepper, Asian
spices, blueberry, blackberry, and licorice. This leads to a full-bodied
(15.2% alcohol), super-rich, plush wine with layers of spicy black
fruit flavors, excellent balance, and a long, pure finish.
At fifteen years, this wine is ending its prime drinking window and starting to show its age as the intense fruit flavors are taking on a burnt raisin tone. Warning our neighbors and their dinner guest that this is not for the feint of heart, they dove in and loved the intense ripe raisin fruit tones and firm structure and gripping tannins.
I wrote about Flinders Run producer Emanuel Skorpos in an earlier blogpost.
I recounted to the tasters that my recollection of the two vintages of this label, was that we liked the 2005 more
than the 2006, being more approachable, more polished and balanced,
while the '06 was bigger, more brooding and bold, but less polished or
in no sense elegant. I selected the '05 tonight, dutifully to work off
the older vintage, but also to test my recollection of it being my
favored of the two, and to monitor its aging.
Consistent with our last post of this label, Deep dark inky purple,
"more subdued than the bigger '06, it retains all the nuances and
character it exhibited in its youth - nicely balanced, polished, and
flavorful. While the fruit is not as big and bold as its follow on
vintage, the '05 still holds full, dense, complex layers of blue and
black berry fruits, accented by licorice, hints of black pepper, and
tones of black tea and what Parker refers to as 'pain grillé' which is
the French word for 'toast'."
RM 93 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=421985
http://www.flindersrun.com.au/
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