TN: 1988 Greenock Creek Shiraz (Creek Block) in Magnum

[markg]

We had this a few weeks ago at an offline here in Adelaide and I have extracted this note from numerous others I made on the night thinking that it deserved its own tasting note.

This was a magnum that I picked at a recent auction and I was a little dubious about it because the level was a bit low. The cork came out cleanly and it was decanted about 2 hours before being served.

Although the label calls it just a Greenock Creek shiraz it is from what is now known as The Creek Block vineyard and was made by Robert O'Callaghan.

Weighing in at 13.2% alcohol, the color was a vibrant/sharp purple color with some bricking on the rim. A very elegant palate with refined layers of chocolate, mushrooms, some spice, leather and undercurrents of tobacco that continued to emerge on the palate as the wine lingered. Grainy tannins and superb length, it still maintained excellent fruit intensity and although it was medium bodied at first, it did gain mouth weight and a silky texture as it was held in the mouth over time.

An excellent wine and a great indicator of where the current range of Creek Blocks may be heading.

[Gavin Trott]

We had this a few weeks ago at an offline here in Adelaide and I have extracted this note from numerous others I made on the night thinking that it deserved its own tasting note.

This was a magnum that I picked at a recent auction and I was a little dubious about it because the level was a bit low. The cork came out cleanly and it was decanted about 2 hours before being served.

Although the label calls it just a Greenock Creek shiraz it is from what is now known as The Creek Block vineyard and was made by Robert O'Callaghan.

Weighing in at 13.2% alcohol, the color was a vibrant/sharp purple color with some bricking on the rim. A very elegant palate with refined layers of chocolate, mushrooms, some spice, leather and undercurrents of tobacco that continued to emerge on the palate as the wine lingered. Grainy tannins and superb length, it still maintained excellent fruit intensity and although it was medium bodied at first, it did gain mouth weight and a silky texture as it was held in the mouth over time.

An excellent wine and a great indicator of where the current range of Creek Blocks may be heading.

Couldn't agree more, I wasn't sure what to expect, but was highly impressed.

It was a very complex Barossa Shiraz, long with intensity and power not from high alcohol and too much oak, but from the inherent fruit.

Lovely wine, no sign of fading (at least in magnum).

[707]

You're correct Mark, this is from their original vineyard and now named Creek Block. I think they named it Creek Block about the time the VII Acre was introduced, about 1994 from memory.

The Creek Block is a wine that really does blossom with time in the cellar, you just need to have patience and not be put off by the negative ravings of some people every time the Parker points lob.

Buy it, seal up the carton, plonk it in a deep corner of your cellar and make a note to open in eight years!