TN: St Hallet 'Old Block' Shiraz '99

[Mishy]

10/11/2004: This is a beautiful black brooding Shiraz - One of my favourite wines from the Vancouver Wine Festival, I unfortunately bought only two. Decanted one hour, the nose was a little shy at first, but within 2 hours lovely complexity of black plum, tree bark and smoldering cedar plank smoke. The palate depicts black licorice, paprika spice and vanillin dark chocolate.
The palate shows some serious drying tannins that over time seemed more aggressive rather than taming. At one point near the end of the bottle I had a real shiver run down my spine from the drying tannin attack on the finish. The rich blackberry fruits were long and unrepentant on the palate, sexy yet smart, this is wine with some attitude and class.
Naturally opened too soon, but shared with a good friend in a celebration of a new job.
Cheers,
Mishy

[markg]

I agree with you Mishy, the 99 Old Block is one of the better recent releases and I wish I had more than the paltry 4 left in my cellar