The Auswine Forum

I had the 2000 the other year and was quite taken by it. I recently came back to them and thought how nicely they were coming along and started to wonder if the current releases were of the same level. So I grabbed a 2002 and tried that, it was austere with very little fruit and quite a bit of greenish tannins. Put off a bit I grabbed a 2001 to try recently to see what that was like;

Nice purple color. On the nose cherry, a little licorice, menthol and some violets. The palate was ok with blackcurrant and olives, not much length and a pleasing warmth of alcohol. All in all rather simple, much better than the 2002 but no where near the 2000.

I agree it's a good honest wine at a great price. It's my staple BBQ wine. Try the 01 Shiraz - a bit disappointing on release but in my opinion better now than the Cab.

2002 was a very cold year in SA - Ugg boots in March. I have heard and read Coonawarra was a tad disappointing because of this.

Chuck