Pinot, Shiraz, Shiraz, Shiraz

Pinot, Shiraz, Shiraz, Shiraz
A few odds and ends from the tasting book, all drunk (as opposed to tasted) over the weekend.

Delamere Pinot Noir 2007
Dry, restrained, acid driven Pinot in a lovely structured style. Takes a while to build in the glass, with a sappy cranberry nose and mid weight palate. Unrivalled natural acidity. Will only build with more bottle time. Really enjoyed this. 18.3/93+

Tim Adams Shiraz 2006
A Clare Valley quiet achiever, you can’t help but like the Tim Adams style.

Rich, faintly leafy and proudly fresh nose with the first twinkle of bottle age, overlaid sweet oak generosity. Polished palate too is very youthful, sweet fruited, sweet oaked and agreeably generous. Quite an overt vanillan juiciness to the whole wine, which arguably needs more tannins to really satisfy, though age will be kind. Attractive drink regardless. 17.1/90

Summerfield Shiraz 2008
This tastes like the product of  a very challenging (warm) vintage.

Showing choc mint Clare regional characters and plenty of oak on the nose, this smells like a classic, rich Summerfield Shiraz, though expensive, chocolatey oak plays a big part in the bouquet. Palate is ripe and chocolatey but seems to fall away into something of a jammy puddle by the mid palate. Short and stewed through the finish too, though certainly plenty to unveil yet. Just a fraction dried out for a Summerfield, though certainly plushly oaked, I didn’t enjoy this as much as some previous vintages. 16.3/88

Mountain X Shiraz 2008
Messrs Walsh & Mattinson’s soon to be 08 Canberra Shiraz, I have actually been using this to top up my own Canberra Shiraz (which is to be blind tasted tomorrow night). Each time I’ve had this wine it seems to be getting better, but for my tastes it’s still not there yet. I still much prefer the Hunter/Yarra sourced 07 Shiraz/Pinot blend, perhaps because I am a renowned Hunterista, but I’d argue it’s because this demands further bottle age to integrate.

Rhonish nose. More Rhonish than Australian in some ways, with a stemmy, floral, green pepper and game edge that is so quintessentially cool climate Shiraz. In fact it’s a nose that bore some similarities to an 04 La Turque tasted earlier in the week, though with some ripe, plump red fruit underneath that is much more Australian. Palate again is quite peppery though for mine it’s sitting a bit awkwardly at present, with jangly acidity and some heat through the finish. Time required, but extra points (at present) for interest. 17/90+