1995 Capogreco 'Riverside Avenue' Reserve Shiraz

[Mahmoud Ali]

I wrote about the 1995 Capogreco 'Riverside Avenue' Reserve Shiraz, Mildura Victoria (14.1%) in another post about some one-off bottles I dug up from the cellar. This wine is from a virtually unknown winery and was expected to be over hill or tired. It has turned out to an absolute delight.

My first inkling that this bottle might turn out okay was when I sniffed the sweet, fragrant nose upon opening the bottle. I put the open bottle in the fridge for about a half hour before pouring it into a wide bottomed decanter. The colour ranged from brick red to terracotta on the rim.

Capogreco Glass.jpg

The nose was open and flooded with savoury and tertiary notes, cherry, some mint leaf, and old oak to round things out. The palate was equally delightful, the old oak more dominant, and the fruit more savoury, like sweet rhubarb, and a touch of volatility to spice things up and add a edge. The finish was long and savoury, with a nice line of acidity, and the oak was marked, but old and broad, it spread over the palate and chest and lingered for a long time. That is when it occurred to me that the 5 years in 2,500 liter oak barrel made it more like a Rioja, a Shiraz "Gran Reserva", if you will. This was just delicious. My partner thought "Old world, Grenache, Rhone" and you know what, she wasn't far off, because as far as I am concerned this was, flat out, an old world wine, a Rioja-like wine but with a shiraz bent. The wine still fattening up an hour later and was just as tasty and savoury as ever.

Capogreco 1995.jpg

I served this with sautéed steak strips, rosemary potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. I would have to say it did not go with the food because the wine itself was so good on its own that it did not need food. I would be thrilled if any of my Aussie shiraz in my cellar were to show such character.

Mahmoud.

PS: The small print on the label says the grapes were hand-picked, crushed by a destemmer, and basket pressed. After 5 years in 2,500 liter oak casks it was bottled on 20th May 2000. Does any other winery do this? Perhaps they should.

[Ian S]

Hi Mahmoud
Woo-hoo! Always good when low expectations are massively exceeded

Perhaps because I like many Italian wines that are aged in large Botti, I've always had a good feeling about wines aged in larger oak barrels. Of course it's always more complex than simply the barrel size, but if all else is similar I'll always lean towards a wine aged in larger wooden barrels.

Regards
Ian

p.s. I can't answer the question directly, but some will emply some of those tehcniques, but whether anyone else does all of them I can't answer. e.g. I recall Tahbilk use larger barrels, Rockford incorporate the 'basket press' into the wines name, I presume Wynns now hand-pick after the realisation back in the mid 1990s that their machine harvesting was destroying their vines.

[Mahmoud Ali]

p.s. I can't answer the question directly, but some will emply some of those tehcniques, but whether anyone else does all of them I can't answer. e.g. I recall Tahbilk use larger barrels, Rockford incorporate the 'basket press' into the wines name, I presume Wynns now hand-pick after the realisation back in the mid 1990s that their machine harvesting was destroying their vines.

Ian,

I do recall seeing the large oak barrels in the lower levels of Tahbilk's cellars and hope they still use them. I don't know about when Wynn's started hand harvesting but when in the Coonawarra back in 2001, I was told that only one who still hand harvested was Zema Estate. Like the owners of Capogreco, they are Italian.

The lesson here is that while Mildura is a less fancied region, it shows that when diligent and artisanal practices are used, the best can be extracted from a less than fancied region. I cannot help but think that the Italian heritage had no small role in Capogreco's winemaking choices. At this point I cannot help thinking of Castagna.

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

PS: Indeed it was the 5 years of barrel aging that attracted me and prompted me to buy the Capogreco many years ago.