1990 Eileen Hardy Shiraz

[Mahmoud Ali]

1990 Eileen Hardy Shiraz (13.5%)

This was a wine I purchased many years ago. A friend served it to me blind and I was quite impressed with it. Back then I used to score wines and in my book it was a 91 or 92 point wine and seemed quite worthy of cellaring. The back label said it was made from a blend of Padthaway, McLaren, and Clare Valley Shiraz, basket pressed, and aged for 14 months in new American and French oak hogsheads for 14 months. It said that 1990 was a great vintage and that it was the best Eileen Hardy ever made and had excellent cellaring potential for 10 or more years. It was about C$16 and I thought it was well worth it. The only question was whether to cellar 4 or 6 bottles.

The first cellared bottle I opened was when it was about 13 or 14 years old and my goodness it was disappointing. Despite it being only 13,5% it was quite jammy and ripe, displaying none of the backbone it had when it was young. I thought I had completely misread the wine and thought it a mistake to have cellared it. My strategy when finding a wine I do not like is to forget about it, and hope for the best, after all, opening another bottle I don't like serves no useful purpose.

A number of years later a friend who had tasted the wine when I did many years ago, and decided to cellar it, served me a bottle. Although it was still somewhat sweet, it was no longer jammy and was showing a hint of tertiary character. Still not what I prefer in a mature wine but seemed to be getting there.

A week ago I opened one of my bottles to see how it was doing. This particular bottle looked to be in need of opening. The ullage was high, at the mid-shoulder level, unlike the remaining bottles. I perhaps erred in serving it to people less familiar with aged wines as they didn't like it. Myself I thought it was a bit edgy, so not quite in pristine condition. The sweetness had gone and it was rather dry and leathery. I wouldn't say it was corked but it did seem out of sorts. Becausae of the level I would say it was not a representative bottle but since I have not really liked the wine since originally tasting it I would say the jury is still out on this wine.

Mahmoud.

[Con J]

I've got a lonely bottle of the 1996 (14.5%) at home to drink soon that I got from auction a few months ago.
Can't remember ever having an Eileen Hardy before.

Cheers Con.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Con,

I remember being in the reception area of the Australian High Commission in Mumbai reading an Australian newspaper (cannot remember which) when I came across an article extolling the virtues of the 1996 Eileen Hardy Shiraz. It was deemed a must buy and if you trust Jeremy Oliver's assessment in his 2016 guide, your '96 is only just entering its drinking window of 2016 to 2026.

Good luck with the bottle, hopefully it will deliver like the 96-pointer that Jeremy Oliver thought it was.

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

[ticklenow1]

The 1994 Eileen Hardy Shiraz was one of those lightbulb moments in Red Wine for me. I drank 2 bottles in the mid 00's and they were both simply stunning. I have a lone bottle of 2005 in my cellar and was thinking of hanging onto it for a few more years yet.

Cheers
Ian

[Con J]

Con,

I remember being in the reception area of the Australian High Commission in Mumbai reading an Australian newspaper (cannot remember which) when I came across an article extolling the virtues of the 1996 Eileen Hardy Shiraz. It was deemed a must buy and if you trust Jeremy Oliver's assessment in his 2016 guide, your '96 is only just entering its drinking window of 2016 to 2026.

Good luck with the bottle, hopefully it will deliver like the 96-pointer that Jeremy Oliver thought it was.

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

Hi Mahmoud.

I based just about all my early wine buying based on Jeremy Oliver's reviews.
When I was starting to collect wine my local bottle shop owner gave me a copy of his previous years wine annual.
I kept on buying the wine annual until he changed it to the new format a couple of years ago.

The bottle shop owner also let me put wine on lay by.

Cheers Con.

[phillisc]

Remember this wine fondly with the circular label of the late Eileen. In the late 80s everyone was going ga ga for this and Orlando Lawsons, I have a few bottles of each somewhere??, paying $18-20 for them.
Cheers Craig

[Dang]

As mentioned in previous JWT thread, I happen to be the proud owner of a '96 EH magnum. If the standard '96 EH has a drinking window of 2016-2026, what could possibly be the drinking window of a magnum? Is Xmas 2018 a bit early? I drank my '98 EH about 12 years ago and always remember its fabulous nose.