TN Henschke Mount Edelstone 1999 Shiraz.
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2004 7:09 pm
Mount Edelstone an old friend. Reliable, special occassion wine even in poorer vintages-95 testament to this. Have a disproportionate amount of my cellar dedicated to this Eden Valley shiraz.
The colour is opaque and red-purple.
The nose is unmistakedly Mt Edelstone. Perfumed. Year in year out this is achieved and I assume a combination of the seasoning techniques with the american and french oak barrels, aswell as the cooler climate old vine fruit. Ripe dark fruits and spice, smoke and very subtle oak notes-vanilla and wood.
The palate is rich and has built in a short time ( some were critical on release that the wine lacked palate weight ). There are subtle oak flavours of vanilla but a lack of the complex spice and black pepper of the 96. Maybe overwhelmed by the ripeness of the fruit. The wine is flat road smooth in texture, and some barrel toast on the back palate carries the flavours beyond the ripe fruit and wood tannin finish.
Full bodied and quite ripe. If it were not for the perfumed Henschke nose the hot summer of 99 would have me pick this shiraz from the Barossa Floor- eg- E&E Black Pepper.
There has been a discernible change of style of Mt Ed over the years. The more austere on release but power packed and cellaring commanding wines post 86, to the more initially forward wines post 95.
The hot vintage of 99 and the difficult 2000 vintage may see us have to wait, until the 01 release, to see how the Edelstone style unfolding.
Anyone tried the 2000?
The colour is opaque and red-purple.
The nose is unmistakedly Mt Edelstone. Perfumed. Year in year out this is achieved and I assume a combination of the seasoning techniques with the american and french oak barrels, aswell as the cooler climate old vine fruit. Ripe dark fruits and spice, smoke and very subtle oak notes-vanilla and wood.
The palate is rich and has built in a short time ( some were critical on release that the wine lacked palate weight ). There are subtle oak flavours of vanilla but a lack of the complex spice and black pepper of the 96. Maybe overwhelmed by the ripeness of the fruit. The wine is flat road smooth in texture, and some barrel toast on the back palate carries the flavours beyond the ripe fruit and wood tannin finish.
Full bodied and quite ripe. If it were not for the perfumed Henschke nose the hot summer of 99 would have me pick this shiraz from the Barossa Floor- eg- E&E Black Pepper.
There has been a discernible change of style of Mt Ed over the years. The more austere on release but power packed and cellaring commanding wines post 86, to the more initially forward wines post 95.
The hot vintage of 99 and the difficult 2000 vintage may see us have to wait, until the 01 release, to see how the Edelstone style unfolding.
Anyone tried the 2000?