TN: 1996 Leasingham Bin 61 Clare Valley Shiraz

[n4sir]

1996 Leasingham Bin 61 Clare Valley Shiraz (cork): Medium to dark red. Still young and beautifully perfumed, raspberries and mint, a drop of vanilla and eucalyptus; the medium-weight palate’s very earthy and chalky, with a powerful bang of black cherry and mint mid-palate, finishing very long, minty and dusty. Drinking superbly now, and should hold a few more years yet.

Cheers,
Ian

[Michael McNally]

Thanks Ian

An old favourite from a good vintage. Sounds like it was on song. Will have to keep my eye out for one of these at lottery (sorry auction).

Cheers

Michael

[Mike Hawkins]

Thanks Ian. I've had a few bottles of the 1998 lately. For a cheap wine, it ages nicely..... Sadly I drank a fe bottles of the 1996 at release and didn't think to cellar them.

[Wayno]

I remember this particular wine back when it was released - it was pretty good back then too, as a young pup.

I've had a few early to mid 90s vintages of this as the Bin 56 and all have come up pretty well. Solid mid-range wines that seem to have survived fairly well - nothing stellar but most were very solid indeed.

[KMP]

Leasingham wines are not that common over here but I did pick up a bottle of the 2005 for $9.95 last weekend; maybe its one of those Aussie wines that have been sitting around in warehouses for years without selling. Surprise, surprise Halliday rated the 2005 very well. Might crack it tonight and see if I've gotten a deal.

Mike

[Michael McNally]

Hi Mike

Don't expect too much. The quality really dropped on these into the 00s.

Good luck

Michael

[KMP]

Hi Mike
Don't expect too much. The quality really dropped on these into the 00s.
Good luck
Michael

For a $10 wine it wasn't too bad - went well with spare ribs, Swiss Chard and sweet potato fries. Might be a stop gap quaffer as I continue to look for a reasonably priced Aussie red for everyday drinking. That’s a job that’s not as easy as a few years ago. These days the numbers of Aussie wines continue to dwindle and at my favorite wine shop they are being replaced by cheap Napa Cabernet. The problem is that cheap Napa Cabernet can be anything up to $40-50 but most have little resemblance to the grape that they have been made from, seem more like Zinfandels. Quite sad really. I actually miss some of the Marquis Philips wines, at least they were distinctive.

Mike

[Mahmoud Ali]

The Marquis Philips wines were unavailable in Canada but I was able to taste it when someone who hade visited the United States brought over a bottle. He was terrible smug about it, thinking that he had brought over a highly rated Parker wine but to the majority of us at the table it was crap, alcoholic, sweet, and one dimensional. Everything that was wrong about many Parkerized/Wine Spectatorized wines.

Yes, the Marquis Philips wine were distintcive, but distinctively bad.

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

[KMP]

The Marquis Philips wines were unavailable in Canada but I was able to taste it when someone who hade visited the United States brought over a bottle. He was terrible smug about it, thinking that he had brought over a highly rated Parker wine but to the majority of us at the table it was crap, alcoholic, sweet, and one dimensional. Everything that was wrong about many Parkerized/Wine Spectatorized wines.

Yes, the Marquis Philips wine were distintcive, but distinctively bad.

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

To each his own, Mahmoud. You will get no argument from me about whether or not these wines have been made to a style that suits the North American market. That said, a few years ago I had a similar opinion to yours about them but was swayed after several blind tastings of some of the Marquis Philips/Grateful Palate shiraz wines mixed in with other Aussie reds available here in the US. Are they the epitome of Aussie Shiraz? By no means, but then they are not meant to be. By drinking them is my weakness for oak showing? Most probably. Would I drink them in place of the current crop of inexpensive California cabernet? Absolutely!

Mike