The Auswine Forum

Wizz wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ONLY Red Shaw&Smith produced is a weedy merlot.

Bullsh!t. I have a case of their 02 shiraz in the cellar.

Ric, is the 03 from Clare? The 02 is Adelaide Hills, from a vineyard in Macclesfield. and it is very good.

AB

Andrew,

The 2002 Elixer was from Clare.

Thx Ric,

My personal opinion on new "icon" wines is that they have to earn a pricetag of greater than $40.

I think if you release a top notch wine from the best grapes availabe using the best viticulture and with the top winemaking practices you can make a good profit at $40. If the consumers agree it is a good wine and you can prove your consistency over 4-5 vintages then you can bang the price up but to release a new wine at $100 is pretentious or is just hoping to profit from all the pretentious wankers who just want to impress their "friends" by being able to say they bought a $100 wine.

Bubba, the way u bubba, bubba,blah, blah obviously u havent tasted the O'Leary Rsv.
O'Leary Rsv. doesnt impressed others simply becos of the stigma being a value for money label but it will do the talking on the table.
I'll gladly pay the asking price infact after tasting it I repeated my orders.

If I'm a wanker who want to win freinds and influenced ppl. I will buy the C.Hill A$tralis.

Chow. You certainly are a handsome dude, but get a haircut.

Look, if you trust your palate that well that you are confident that after a period of several years this wine will be as good as some of the other $100 wines around and far superior to some of the $50 - $60 - $70 bottles around with a 10, 20, 30 year track record behind them then go for it.

I just recall some of the hooplah associated with some of the other first releases of "great" wines that looked pretty silly 2, 3, 4 years later.

Bubba, I am confident this wine will cellared for 20yrs, as stated in the backlabel. I rather pay $90 for a newly released wines than a Parkerised $40 wine selling for the same price in the aftermarket.

Bubba,

There is one other factor at play here, both the winemakers have had years of experience and a track record. They are the guys that made and built the Annies Lane brand, both the value lable and the Coppertrail.

They have proved they know what they are doing.

...but to release a new wine at $100 is pretentious or is just hoping to profit from all the pretentious wankers who just want to impress their "friends" by being able to say they bought a $100 wine.

There are some people like that but most of those people will only buy highly awarded wine so they can say "this won 6 trophies" or "it was awarded 101 Parker points." That is not the case with this wine, people are buying it after tasting it and thinking its worth the $$. I was very skeptical until I tried it.

Chow Chow wrote: I rather pay $90 for a newly released wines than a Parkerised $40 wine selling for the same price in the aftermarket.

with the exception of NOON's wine.

Punters corner Spartacus would be a more attractive option given the price.

Anonymous wrote:Punters corner Spartacus would be a more attractive option given the price.

Have you tried both wines? I have and in my opinion, whilst they are both good, the O'Leary Walker Reserve is better and worth the price differential.

Spartacus IMHO is probrably by far the best Shiraz Coonawarra ever aspired to...but not in the class of O'Leary Walker Rsv.

NOT from Clare, from Macclesfield in the Adelaide Hills, as is the 2003.
Confirmed by Michael Hill-Smith........ unless of course he is lying

Noel wrote:NOT from Clare, from Macclesfield in the Adelaide Hills, as is the 2003.
Confirmed by Michael Hill-Smith........ unless of course he is lying

Noel,

The standard shiraz is from Macclesfield, but the we were categoricially told the Elixer Shiraz was from Clare. The Standard version retails for sub $20 and the Elixer is $30. Two different wines.

TORB wrote:

Noel wrote:NOT from Clare, from Macclesfield in the Adelaide Hills, as is the 2003.
Confirmed by Michael Hill-Smith........ unless of course he is lying

Noel,

The standard shiraz is from Macclesfield, but the we were categoricially told the Elixer Shiraz was from Clare. The Standard version retails for sub $20 and the Elixer is $30. Two different wines.

Sub $20?? Where from Ric? This was in the $30's at CD and over $40 locally, and worth it IMO.

Wizz wrote:Sub $20?? Where from Ric? This was in the $30's at CD and over $40 locally, and worth it IMO.

I got the prices from winerobot and it showed a couple of retailers selling it at sub $20.

TORB wrote:

Wizz wrote:Sub $20?? Where from Ric? This was in the $30's at CD and over $40 locally, and worth it IMO.

I got the prices from winerobot and it showed a couple of retailers selling it at sub $20.

The 2003 is listed @ $17.99 on winerobot but when you click through it's actually $34.99, winerobot is pretty useless these days, wine-searcher lists the correct price. For 2002 the best price I can see on wine-searcher is $27.50, I paid $30+ for mine and I'm happy to have it in my cellar.

Brian,

I normally use Winesearcher Pro, but it was down at the time!

We were in the Clare late last year and tasted the OLW resv shiraz. Not that we claim to be remotely expert but we were most impressed and did consider buying despite being nearly double our usual ceiling.

The interesting part was the conversation we had with another credible local who commented that OLW had tossed up pricing it between $55 to $90 and went for the top of that range. ie it is well above the relative making cost and more related to what the market would bear. Our local claimed that they considered it might be more successful at a higher price point. Even if it was nearly as successful in vlume the extra profit margin/bottle would would be a winner for them.

I'm reminded of a story, which may be apocryphal, about a car maker (Rolls Royce??) who at one stage increased sales by increasing the price - and therefore exclusivity and prestige - of their brand.

My view tends to be if you can get people to pay that much, good luck to you.
BUT I also agree with those that suggest it may seem a bit pretentious to ask so much for a first vintage. Although TORB points out the experience of the team in the Clare, it is still the combination of winemaking technique & style combined with the vineyard technique & fruit quality from the particular site that needs to prove itself with some kind of track record imho.
Having read the various comments from others who have tried the wine I would now more confidence in buying some as I trust the combined judgement of its potential development more than my own.

cheers
Lefty

Ric,
The definitive answer. The Shiraz from Shaw and Smith is from Macclesfield. It is a higher priced wine than a small one off wine called Elixir from the Clare. This is very limited. Both 2002 and 2003 Shaw and Smith Shiraz that you see around are undoubtedly the Adelaide Hills one, which it also clearly states Adelaide Hills. If you in the unlikely event you see the Elixir (which is $5 a bottle less than the Adelaide Hills at the winery) it is labelled Clare.
That clears that up i hope!!
Cheers
Noel

Chow Chow wrote:Spartacus IMHO is probrably by far the best Shiraz Coonawarra ever aspired to...but not in the class of O'Leary Walker Rsv.

Then you've never tried the Bowen Ampelon Shiraz have you? Only made once so far, in 1998. If you ever see any at auction then grab it as it's a blinder.

Steve, Havent had the Ampleton. For premium Coonawarra Shiraz, I tried various vintages of Spartacus, W.Micheal and the Brand Stentiford. All were v.good but too pricey, quality were comparable to some Barossa/McLaren's <$30ish>.
The only Coonawarra Shiraz that I buy with confident is Balnaves.