Coriole Shiraz 2008 (McLaren Vale, SA)
$28, Screwcap, 14%
Source: Sample
www.coriole.com

There appears to be two quite disparate styles of red wine coming out of the ‘challenging’ 2008 vintage in McLaren Vale. On the one hand you have the lucky ones, the gooduns’ – those wines that have escaped the March heatwave with their freshness in tact. On the other hand lies those wines that suffered: Forward, caramelised and prematurely evolved reds that taste like all the vitality has left the building.

Thankfully this Coriole falls into the former camp, with plenty of positives to it’s name. On the nose it carries warm raspberry fruit, licorice, chocolate oak and bitumen in a proper McLaren Vale Shiraz style, if heading towards overripeness. It doesn’t taste overripe though – rich and warming sure, maybe a fraction short, but proper plump and powerful through the middle. I quite liked this actually, as witnessed by the fact that I went back for a second glass. Good result. 17.2/90