Lou Miranda Old Vine Shiraz Mouvedre

[Mahmoud Ali]

Has anybody here had this wine, or know anything about it. Apart from their website which descriibes it as an single vineyard wine in the Barossa Valley with 100 year-old vines I canot find anything else. At cellar door it is ambitiously priced, A$50 for the 2012 and A$86 for the 2010. Are they that good?

Any information or insight would be appreciated.

Cheers ................ Mahmoud.

[Hunter]

Big over the top wines in my opinion. There restaurants not much better..

[Tucker Wine Studios]

Hi Mahmoud,
Ok, here a slightly alternative view (not fact). I tasted the 2012 OVSM earlier this year at CD and liked it. I actually liked it so much that I bought a bottle. Well, it is sort of a biggish ripe wine but didn't find it OTT, certainly not a blockbuster. It really depends on your taste preference. I don't mind big wines (but also enjoy a delicate light pinot). I normally don't get too excited about joven-style wines. The price, well, what can I say, $50 for a Barossa Red is these days somewhere middle of the road. Certainly not a bargain. But I would not pay the $86 for the 2010. Ah, the restaurant, well I think the wine was better than the food (but I'm very hard to please). Not sure if that helps you Mahmoud. It's not an icon wine but it's not too bad either.
Cheers,
Mario

[Mahmoud Ali]

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

As the wine is on clearance I will get a bottle and give it a go before deciding on whether to get any more.

PS: How do I edit the topic so as to correct a typo?

[Ian S]

PS: How do I edit the topic so as to correct a typo?

Hi Mahmoud
I can't recall if it works, but if you edit the 1st post in the thread (pencil icon) you are presented with an editable field for subject, so try removing the rogue 'o' and see if that works.
regards
Ian

[Mahmoud Ali]

Thanks Ian, it worked!

Strangely, the two middle posts retain the original typo.

[Ian S]

Thanks Ian, it worked!

Strangely, the two middle posts retain the original typo.

I think that would require Tucker and TWS to change their posts, as the forum software (oddly IMO) allows us to put a different title on a post.

[Mahmoud Ali]

2010 Lou Miranda '110 Year Old Vines' Shiraz Mouvedre, Barossa Valley (14.5%)

This is a single vineyard wine, the grapes coming from Angel's Vineyard, planted in 1897. I was unprepared for the colour, which was neither purple nor dense, being rather more ruby and garnet with some signs of bricking. The nose has an inky, dark, bloody, minerally character that I suspect is due to the 38% mouvedre. The fruit has a cherry-scented aspect. The palate is not at all sweet, rather dry and tannic, again the mouvedre showing it's hand. It is neither fleshy nor generous, a bit edgy, dry, and tannic, the fruit being dark and inky. I suspect it is at an awkward stage and needs full-flavoured red meats to compliment it.

Served blind I might not have guessed it as an Australian wine and probably not shiraz. I had not seen this wine before and have no idea about it's provenance. I bought this at the same time as some Innis & Gunn Oak Aged beer (Scotland) that was on the cusp of its expiry date. Both the beer and the wine were on clearance and both have passed muster. I will be going back for more of both.

Mahmoud.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Lou Miranda Old Vine Shiraz Mourvedre, 'Angel's Vineyard' 110 Year Old Vines, Barossa Valley (14.5%)

A year later and the fruit has faded somewhat, leaving the wine a bit closed and somewhat stolid. I am hoping that with another year or two the palate will broaden and offer some mature elements. Right now it is a bit grumpy and needs rich food to flesh it out. Again, I like the bloody, ferrous minerality of the mourvedre.

MirandaOldVine'10a.jpg

[Michael McNally]

I often find straight Mourvedre very 'earthy' or 'ferrous' or 'dirty'. I hadn't considered 'bloody' but that might be a descriptor too. Often to the point of distraction/detraction.

I might not have had any truly quality Mourvedre though......

Cheers

Michael

[Mahmoud Ali]

Michael,

I do think that big, full-bodied mourvedres need time to flesh out. Late last year I had a couple of older mourvedre wines, both old world, one from Bandol in France and the other from Yecla in Spain. I really enjoyed both of them, one a decade old and the other sixteen. Here is what I posted about the two on a UK forum:

Last weekend a friend of mine brought over a bottle of Bandol. It was the 2007 Dupéré Barrerra "India" Bandol (15%). The wine was electric, full of life and intensity, with inky black fruit and loads of minerality. The tannins were firm and broad but rounded. It was delicious. It was served blind and, to our credit, the rest of us at the table managed to identify the wine as old world, mourvedre, and Bandol. I was thrilled to see, when it was revealed, that I have a bottle of this somewhere in the cellar, something that I had found as a single bottle. I had assumed that mouvedre needs time in the bottle so I had set it aside amongst my few pure mouvedre wines.

Bandol&Yecla.jpg

By sheer coincidence one of my cellar-aged daily drinkers at home was a 2001 Castaño "Hécula", Yecla (14%), a wine that I had bought over a decade ago. It too was a pure mourvedre wine and had garnered accolades. I had tried the wine and though not convinced that it was a "91-pointer" I still thought it a good wine and after drinking a number of bottles when it was young put a few away. I seem to recall that I had a bottle some years ago and found it rather flat and uninspiring and so left the remaining bottles alone. Yesterday I opend a bottle with dinner and was more than pleasantly surprised to be rewarded with a burst of perfumed, polished leather, and barnyard notes straight from the bottle. There was a spring in my step as I fetched a decanter. The wine was similar in profile to the Bandol though certainly more advanced, medium-bodied, black cherry fruit, leathery tannins and, and a dry finish that begged for food. Tasting the dregs from the bottle the next day, I sense that this wine could have used more airing and while there is no rush to drink my last two bottles I feel that it has already achieved it's purpose.

From the new world I have two Australian mourvedres, a 1997 d'Arenberg 28 Road Mourvedre and 1998 Jenke Mourvedre (Barossa) from century old vines. I tasted the Jenke at cellar door and though it was inky, ferrous, exceedingly dry and backword, I was fascinated. I had no idea how it would pan out but the brooding nature intrigued me. The next day I went back and bought a bottle. Now, even without having tasted it, I regret not having bought more than one.

Which Aussie mourvedres have you tried Michael?

Cheers ............. Mahmoud.

[Waiters Friend]

Myattsfield in the Perth Hills make a creditable Mourvedre around the $25 mark. It shows fruit (esp blueberries) as well as the earthiness that people associated with Mourvedre generally, and they age for a few years at least. They also do a Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier.

I also have a 1998 Bandol in the cellar that I brought back from France a few years ago. It's scheduled for drinking this year, and I will let you know how it fares.

[Michael McNally]

Which Aussie mourvedres have you tried Michael?

Cheers ............. Mahmoud.

Hi Mahmoud

Hardly a large number and mostly as a dominant blend in an MSG. Straight Mourvedres/Mataros I can recall are:
Turkey Flat
Kabminye Schleib's Block (dominant)
Teusner Dog Strangler
Burge Family Winemakers (dominant?)
Tim Smith Wines (dominant)
I may have had a Woods Crampton wine too, but not sure if it was a straight Mataro or just dominant.

I have really enjoyed some of these wines, but not where the earthy, ferrous, bloody character is too over the top.

Cheers

Michael