TN: Maxwell Ellen Street Shiraz 2013

[Waiters Friend]

When I purchased this at cellar door a couple of years ago, I was advised that the 2013s would be 'early drinkers' in comparison to their usual longevity. This is the first bottle of that purchase I have opened.

Very dark purple in colour, almost black. There's powerful aromas - I can smell the wine about 1m away from the decanter. The back label refers to "blueberries, red fruits and aromatic mocha notes with nuances of dark chocolate and aniseed". This is mostly still accurate after a couple of years' development, although I'm not picking the aniseed. It's slightly oak dominant at present (24 months in oak), and slightly earthy, but there's no shortage of fruit peeking through.

The palate is full and flavourful, with the red fruits and chocolate mixing in well across the tongue. Tannins are firm but fine grained, and the wine finishes quite long, despite only being medium bodied. The wine is quite well balanced, and should integrate even more over coming 3-5 years.

Cheers
Allan

[Waiters Friend]

An update from 3 years ago. The nose is still leaping out of the glass, with Cherry Ripe, blueberries, and lots of chocolate. The palate notes from three years ago still hold well, although the wine may have softened ever so slightly over time. The intensity and volume is still there, but without heaviness.

There' still primary fruit. If 2013 was supposed to be an early drinking vintage, then I am really happy with this at 9 years old, and other vintages must still be babies!