Overall 2002 is a vintage of excellent quality, especially for Australian white wines and red wines from the river regions. Early in the season the weather was wet and cool - this resulted in poor flowering and subsequently reduced yields. Whilst this means that quality is up, it also means quantity is down and so some wines may be in short supply - especially quality Chardonnays. A cool summer turned into an idyllic warm, sunny autumn with cool nights. The grapes ripened perfectly and retained more acidity than usual and consequently the wines are beautifully balanced with good intensity of flavour.
In such a vast country it is hard to generalise and some areas did better than others. Reds, especially Cabernet Sauvignons, are outstanding from the premium areas of Western Australia's Margaret River, South Australia's and Clare and Barossa Valleys and MacLaren Vale and finally South Eastern Australia's Yarra Valley and Central and North East Victoria. However it was the white varieties, particularly Semillon, which fared better than the reds in the Hunter Valley. But for Merlot this was a disappointing year - in most areas this variety was hard to get right and only the better producers managed it correctly.
The 2002 Syrah Astralis Vineyard rivals the greatest wines Roman Bratasiuk has made in his 15-year career. This compelling, black/blue-hued offering from 75-year-old Syrah vines tastes like blood of the vine. An extraordinary perfume of flowers, creme de cassis, blackberries, roasted meat, new saddle leather, and earth is followed by a wine with sweet tannin, sensational concentration, full body, an unctuous texture, and a full-throttle, tannic finish. Yet it reveals unbelievable elegance and finesse. Too many Euro-centric elitists argue that Australian wines are too rich and over the top, but all of these offerings have been made by someone with great talent and vision who takes the extraordinary ripeness and purity of fruit available from these old vine vineyards and crafts them into wines that are quite European in style ... just richer and denser. The 2002 Astralis is a tour de force. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2025+. Robert M. Parker, Jr. - Wine Advocate - eRobertParker.com - Oct 2004
Rick Kinzbrunner has made some spectacular Pinot Noirs but the Warner vineyard with its granitic schist soil is even better for Shiraz. This great Shiraz is fully ripe but its character is more savoury than sweet, and stylistically more Cte-Rtie than Hermitage.
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Robert M. Parker, Jr. - Wine Advocate - eRobertParker.com - Oct 2004