BBQ Ribs and Syrah Syrah

BBQ Ribs and Syrah Syrah - Clarendon Hills Piggott Range and Marquis Philips '9'

The family gathered for son Ryan's birthday and Linda served Salmon and BBQ Ribs with buttered potatoes, asparagus and baked beans. Ryan and I went down in the cellar and he picked out two wines he wanted to try as an accompaniment.

With the BBQ ribs, son Ryan chose from our cellar two Australian Mclaren Vale Shiraz' - a Clarendon Hills Piggott Range and a Marquis Phillips '9' - both from the 2004 vintage.

Clarendon Hills Piggott Range Shiraz 2004

As written in my earlier tasting, this luscious Australian Syrah was given a 96 point rating by Robert Parker, stating "A superstar effort, it reveals off-the-chart richness, complexity and intensity. Floral-scented, exhibiting a distinctive minerality along with wonderful blackberry and cassis fruit, and a hint of wood. The mid-palate and finish are both long, textured and intense. It needs 2-3 years of bottle age and should keep for a minimum of 2 decades."

This winery Clarendon Hills is the namesake of the town and area around Clarendon which was established in 1845. Many of the vineyards surrounding the winery are over seventy years old; the gnarly and twisted bush vines are dry farmed and the grapes are hand picked. The soil profiles of each vineyard are very different with the Piggott Range known for the rock and shale. This is a hillside vineyard planted in the 1960's adjacent to the Onkaparinga Valley. The soil there is notable by it's absence rather predominant with solid rock and shale torturing the vine roots to reach deep for nutrients to survive. Low yields rarely exceeding two tonnes/acre produce deeply rich fruit with firm structure and tannins. 

 
Consistent with earlier notes, this exhibited a rich dark purple color, full bodied, and full smooth polished aromas and flavors of raspberries, blueberry, blueberries and smoked meat with notes of spice and floral elements with hints of oak with nicely integrated silky tannins on the lingering finish. However, the fruit was more subdued and a bit leaner than the full throttle profile of previous experience a few years ago.

This exhibited a rich dark purple color, full bodied, and full smooth polished aromas and flavors of raspberries, blueberry, blueberries and smoked meat with notes of spice and floral elements with hints of oak with nicely integrated silky tannins on the lingering finish.

It seems with this latest tasting of this label, the fruit seems more ripe or extracted so as to be a bit more raisiny with a subtle tone of graphite or a metallic note - perhaps or most likely attributable to aging at this stage of life - fifteen years of age. 

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=153424

http://www.clarendonhills.com.au/

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2012/08/clarendon-hills-clarendon-piggott-range.html

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2015/10/cityscape-syrah-zin-bbq-ribs-wine.html

Marquis Phillips '9' McLaren Vale Shiraz 2004

Our Cellartracker records show we still hold almost four cases of this label from seven different vintages.

From previous tastings of this release I wrote: "This is huge full bodied, deep dark inky color. Almost overpowering forward over ripe black berry, raisin, blue berry fruits, hints of caramel, vanilla, glycerin and cedar. Firm, full chewy unctuous tongue coating tannins that reveal more blueberry, vanilla, mocha on a long alcohol finish. Begs for bar-b-que or like food."

Similar to the 2004 Piggott Range Shiraz above, this too is starting to show its age and lose some of the vibrancy of its fruit. At fifteen years of age this is starting to show a bit of heat from the alcohol as this starts to wane and pass its prime drinking window.



RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/barcode.asp?iWine=144787

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/05/marquis-philips-mclaren-vale-shiraz-2004.html

Big Syrah duo for wine and cheese evening

Big Syrah horizontal duo for wine and cheese evening

With Sis-in-law Dr Pat visiting for the weekend, I had to pull for her and wife Linda, their High School mascot label wine namesake, 'Oracle' by Killikanoon.

Oracle is the top of the Killikanoon moderate and premium line of almost a dozen Shiraz' save their super ultra-premium special designation labels. Oracle Shiraz has been released each year since 1997 except 2011, crafted from old vine fruit grown along the golden hillside in Leasingham in the Clare Valley in South Central Australia. Oracle is renowned for its opulence, regional character terrior and varietal power for which the valley is known.

Kilikanoon Oracle Clare Valley South Australia Shiraz 2005

Similar tasting notes to my last entry back in 2009 when this wine was only five years old. Now three times that age, it still presents the massive blackberry liqueur accented by full bodied blueberry, notes of kirsch, expresso and hints of cinnamon and clove spices. Dark blackish garnet colored with full body and fine grained approachable well integrated tannins on the long lingering finish.

Over the years since the earlier tasting, the berry fruits are starting to give way to a notes of raisin and hints of leather.

RP and RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=396281


For a comparison horizontal tasting, I also opened another South Central Australian Shiraz from the same 2005 vintage.

Marquis Phillips "9" McLaren Vale South Australia Shiraz 2005

Marquis Philips is the label of winemakers Sarah and Sparky Philips with their whimsical label of that era featuring the 'Roogle' (shown left), a cross between eagle and kangaroo representing their joint venture with Dan Philips, their American distributor. They disbanded a few years later and started their own label that has become the well known Mollydooker brand.

Like the Oracle above, this too resembles the earlier tasting from a decade ago but this was already a bit of super ripe berry fruit bordering on raisiny.  

Not as polished and integrated as the Oracle, this is more opulent and obtuse with its big rich forward overly ripe dark berry, mineral and graphite, with notes of expresso, cola and hints of dark bitter mocha chocolate.  

Parker loves this stuff! WA 96-98 Pts. - "The 2005 Shiraz 9 (a 4,000-case cuvee that spends 18 months in new and one-year-old American oak) reveals a big, toasty, smoky nose, but the oak is beautifully absorbed by extravagant quantities of blackberry and cassis fruit intermixed with licorice, incense, and spice. This full-bodied, powerful, rich, layered stunner should drink well for a decade."

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=283966