2004 Wild Duck Creek Estate, Shiraz Reserve, Heathcote, Australia
Critics reviews
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 26/12/2006
About this WINE
Wild Duck Creek Estate
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.
It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.
South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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Description
The 2004 Shiraz Reserve was aged in 100% new French oak hogsheads for 20 months. The alcohol is a mere 15.5%, but the wine is gorgeously pure revealing a quintessential black raspberry and creme de cassis purity and richness that must be smelled, tasted, and evaluated to be believed. Huge extract, massive tannin, and a stunningly long, 45 second plus finish suggest this monstrous, but impeccably well-balanced Shiraz will benefit from 3-4 years of bottle age, and last for 15 or more.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 26/12/2006
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