For those of you not familiar with these events all the following wines were tried blind, and after about an hour all participants voted for their most preferred, two next preferred and their least preferred drops. In a slight departure this time the wines were cooled before pouring, and they took a little while to fully open up.
I’ve included my own impressions and rankings, the group votes, and a group ranking based on most preferred votes counting for double, second and third one vote, and least preferred minus one vote. The Blacktongues usually don’t allocate a final ranking, but they thought my system seemed to sum up the group opinions pretty well last week.
In contrast to the new releases last time my votes for the top wines were in line with the rest of the panel, and these wines were an absolute joy to go through. I’ve always thought of the 1997 SA reds on release being generally beautifully aromatic/perfumed but lacking substance, however these particular wines were very strong this tasting and most will definitely hold.
1997 Majella Coonawarra Shiraz: Dark to inky purple/red colour. What a beautiful start to the evening; an elegant, perfumed nose of dusty violets, sweet coffee, earth and mocha open the proceedings. The mid-weight palate opens with an attack of formic acid (VA) and vanilla oak, quickly matched by rich, blackberry fruit with hints of dark chocolate and black olive, finishing long and soft with balanced tannins. I guessed this may have been an excellent bottle of the Limestone Ridge, but I wasn’t too far off the mark.
My ranking: 2nd place
Panel ranking: 2nd place
Votes: 5 most, 4 second & third, 0 least
1997 Summerfield Pyrenees (Reserve) Shiraz: Dark to inky purple/red colour. A spicy, sweet and complex nose of cinnamon, lanolin, sweet blackberry/chocolate, mint and aniseed that’s very impressive. The palate opens very seductively with soft, slushy chocolate/blackberry fruit, becoming quite chalky on the mid-palate with some VA, before finishing just fractionally short with dry tannins.
My ranking: 4th place
Panel ranking: 8th place
Votes: 0 most preferred, 3 second & third, 4 least
1997 Scarpantoni Block 3 McLaren Vale Shiraz: Dark to inky red/purple with some crust. The nose opens with ripe fruit characters of beetroot, raspberry, blackberry and chocolate. The palate is spicy with blackberries and pepper, but to me was the least complex and shortest of the night: not even a last-second taste off could save it from bottom place on my scoresheet, although it still had a few fans.
My ranking: 10th place
Panel ranking: 5th place
Votes: 1 most, 4 second & third, 1 least
1997 Bowen Estate Coonawarra Shiraz: Dark to inky red/purple colour. A very minty nose at first, with some chalk, white pepper and raspberry; with breathing that white pepper becomes far more prominent. The pepper’s also there on the mid-weight palate, with some chalk, greens, and surprisingly some heat, finishing with good length.
My ranking: 8th place
Panel ranking: 6th place
Votes: 1 most, 1 second & third, 2 least
1997 Rosemount Balmoral McLaren Vale Shiraz: Oxidized. Replaced by…
1997 Lengs & Cooter Clare Valley Shiraz: Dark to inky red/purple colour. An unusual fruity and sweet nose with rhubarb, cinnamon and licorice. The palate likewise features soft, spicy/tangy fruit, finishing slightly green with a hint of olive. It’s very unusual to get a wine in these tastings that generate absolutely no votes, although it came mighty close to getting my least preferred.
My ranking: 9th place
Panel ranking: 7th place
Votes: 0 most, 0 second & third, 0 least
1997 Pirramirra (White Label) McLaren Vale Shiraz: An outstanding inky purple/red colour with an impressive glowing purple rim announces the blockbuster of the group. The nose opens as intimidating as the colour, with coal, peat/earth, chocolate, banana/vanillan oak all underpinned by a massive undercurrent of crushed ants and spicy blackberry. The palate is soft on entry with sweet milk chocolate and some dried herbs, mixed spices/nutmeg, white pepper and coffee, finishing long with smoldering, smoky tannins. It had to take something special to upstage that Majella, and this was the beast to do it.
My ranking: 1st place
Panel ranking: 1st place
Votes: 5 most, 8 second and third, 0 least
1997 Saltram Mamre Brook Barossa Shiraz: Dark to inky red/purple with some crusting. A sweet nose at first that seemed grow in power over time; opening with chocolate, then some dried herbs, perfumed blackberries, concentrated tomato, diesel fumes and coffee, and finally some formic acid and varnish after the votes were cast. The palate opens with a big bang of sweet, concentrated blackberry fruit, finishing long with coffee oak and some VA; I found it a touch simpler than my top two wines, but it was still very powerful and impressive.
My ranking: 3rd place
Panel ranking: 3rd place
Votes: 2 most, 6 second & third, 0 least
1997 Sandalford Mt Barker (Margaret River) Shiraz: Dark to inky red, a big step down on the previous wines. The nose is quite funky and complex, with beetroot, chocolate, diesel/tar, pepper, earth, and some barnyard. The palate opens with an attack of ripe blackberry fruit and chewy tannin, developing some green and peppery characters mid-palate, before finishing very long with chalk/mint on the aftertaste.
My ranking: 6th place
Panel ranking: 4th place
Votes: 2 most, 5 second & third, 0 least
1997 Leconfield Coonawarra Shiraz: Dark red colour; this was a shock, even after the Sandalford! A typically green and herbaceous nose that screams out Leconfield; chalky with some beetroot, sweat, ozone, capsicum and dried herbs. The mid-weight palate is not surprisingly just as green and chalky, with good length.
My ranking: 7th place
Panel ranking: 10th place
Votes: 0 most, 0 second & third, 7 least
1997 Water Wheel Bendigo Shiraz: An excellent inky purple/red colour. There seemed to be bit of a beetroot theme with these wines, and this one opened with a boiled bunch of it! As the wine breathed the bouquet fluctuated wildly between floral and funky scents, with chocolate, burnt rubber, toasted oak, bitter orange, cocoa, perfume, floor varnish and carnations. The palate opens with soft blackberry fruit on entry, before becoming spicy/peppery on the mid-palate, and finishing with huge, gum-draining tannins. The wine was massive and complex, but it’s pretty wild and hard to see exactly where it’s going; possibly one to watch.
My ranking: 5th place
Panel ranking: 9th place
Votes: 0 most, 0 second & third, 3 least
Cheers
Ian
TN: Blacktongues 13/4/05 - 1997 Shiraz
TN: Blacktongues 13/4/05 - 1997 Shiraz
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.
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MartinJohnC
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2003 1:52 pm
- Location: Adelaide
Not sure if this is a one off happening or whether your palate has finally calibrated to mine Ian! 
This week I have to agree with your findings, the Pirramimma and Majella were the two standouts for me and the overall standard very high for a "lesser" vintage.
Interestingly, other than the two winners, which I bought a case plus of, the other wines were/are only present in twos and threes in my cellar meaning they were impressive at release but I only bought a few due to the vintage. I was probably still hurting from buying big on the 96s and knew 98 was going to hurt as well !
This week I have to agree with your findings, the Pirramimma and Majella were the two standouts for me and the overall standard very high for a "lesser" vintage.
Interestingly, other than the two winners, which I bought a case plus of, the other wines were/are only present in twos and threes in my cellar meaning they were impressive at release but I only bought a few due to the vintage. I was probably still hurting from buying big on the 96s and knew 98 was going to hurt as well !
Cheers - Steve
If you can see through it, it's not worth drinking!
If you can see through it, it's not worth drinking!
Those Pirramimma white label shiraz from 96, 97, 98 were/are lovely wines, I'm not sure why I stopped buying them after that, must go back and try the new release. They had such a soft, viscous mouthfeel and were so balanced at release that it was hard to imagine them maturing for too long, but they certainly made it to 8 yo to be drinking superbly.
Interestingly, the Pirra is the only wine of those you tasted that made it into my cellar, like Steve I was pretty skint after splurging on the wonderful 96 reds, so bought relatively few and very selectively from the 97 vintage.
Interestingly, the Pirra is the only wine of those you tasted that made it into my cellar, like Steve I was pretty skint after splurging on the wonderful 96 reds, so bought relatively few and very selectively from the 97 vintage.
Cheers
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
Ian you scores are very close to mine from last Wednesday!
Not sure if this is a one off happening or whether your palate has finally calibrated to mine Ian!
If you look over my past Blacktongues notes, maybe it's not too much of a surprise. The times I've attended for the older tastings (1996 Cabernets, 1993 Vintage, 1990/1991 Cabernets) my rankings have been very much in line with the panel.
It tends to be far more varied with the newer releases (particularly the 2002/2003 vintages). I think in this case my preferences for more balanced and elegant/complex wines (TORB rather unfairly describes this as sedate!
) can contrast those panellists looking for maximum power/extraction - that's where my intolerance for alcohol heat can really kick in. That said I've loved some of the biggest wines out there (Grange, Roenfeldt Road, Cullen, etc) but these have enough of everything to win me over (and usually a year of two in the bottle to settle down a fraction).
The oak and VA factors can kick in here too, as I think quite a few of the panel don't like much of these in young wines, but find the balance much better with bottle age.
Just my theory anyway!
Cheers
Ian
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.