The Auswine Forum

Hi guys

Any opinions on this wine? Cellaring potential? Value for money?

thanks

I bought 6 of these from an online liquidator for about $40 a bottle instead of the $150 that it normally is. Looked for more after it arrived but it had disappeared quickly. Thanks to the Halliday app I can usually ID most of the "mystery" wines reliably. This one got me excited because it won the Vienna Shiraz/Syrah world challenge against 3500 other wines which is probably a step up from the old Lubjana "world championships" that someone's black label used to win regularly!
Anyway I read all the reviews before I bought it and they were all "over the top" eg. "Move over Grange" etc.
I think u should try one and give us a review. If not I'll review it in a few months.....

Luke W wrote:I bought 6 of these from an online liquidator for about $40 a bottle instead of the $150 that it normally is. Looked for more after it arrived but it had disappeared quickly. Thanks to the Halliday app I can usually ID most of the "mystery" wines reliably. This one got me excited because it won the Vienna Shiraz/Syrah world challenge against 3500 other wines which is probably a step up from the old Lubjana "world championships" that someone's black label used to win regularly!
Anyway I read all the reviews before I bought it and they were all "over the top" eg. "Move over Grange" etc.
I think u should try one and give us a review. If not I'll review it in a few months.....

thanks LukYes I also bought a box thru a liquidator.. I thought it was a good deal but the first time I had bought anything thru them. a great saving if the information they provide is reliable however I agree it did sound over the top.

I'll crack one open soon and let you all know.

Thanks again for your commments

I

This wine has recently been offered by an <unnamed online retailer> at $60 in a case of 6 (possibly where you picked it up?) as a 'mystery' wine. While many people seemed to be jumping up and down with excitement, personally, too many $$ for me to part with when I consider what else $60 can buy me.

Nonetheless, there is quite a lot of commentary circulating in other <unnamed online retailer> specific forums around this wine... easily found via google.

my foreman was given a bottle of this by one of my clients earlier this year.
He (the client) rang me before hand to check if he liked wine and I was honest with him, told him he doesn't like anything but wine might make him dislike things a bit less for a short period of time so go for it
So a couple of weeks later I asked him what he got and he sent me a photo of this squid ink, and to be honest I was a bit like WTF is that???
Anyway, I read this thread when it was first posted, and today we went to see a job and went in the one car and had a chat and just as I was about to get out when he dropped me home I remembered this thread.
So I said "Hey, how was that squid ink xxxxxxx gave you when we finished that job, you had it yet?"
With no hesitation or pause he said "aw my god it was the most awful wine I have ever tasted, seriously it was terrible" (scrunching his face in a repulsed manner)
Now I'll just add before finishing the story, this guy knows nothing about wine, drinks very little wine, and is likely to have the same reaction to an outstanding wine, depending on the mood he is in.
Anyway, I asked him what it tasted like, and he paused, contemplated and then his eyes kinda opened up and he went "ink! but not squid ink, actual ink, the kind you write with a fountain pen with. And it looked like that too"
I was thoroughly entertained by it all so thought I'd post the story for a laugh, but in no way would I take this as any indication of the quality of the wine
To be honest, having known this guy for 20 years and the kinda guy he is, it actually makes me want to try this wine.
But I would be hesitant to by 6 bottles of it considering

I've never heard of this wine - who makes it and where is it from?

Mahmoud.

Luke W wrote:... the old Lubjana "world championships" that someone's black label used to win regularly.

I remember those large, ornate, Wolf Blass labels that wrapped around the bottle and listed the medals - they were on the Black and Yellow label wines and they were Shiraz/Cabernet blends. I still have a couple of bottles of the them.

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

Mahmoud Ali wrote:I've never heard of this wine - who makes it and where is it from?

Mahmoud.

Its from McLaren Vale and Brian Light is the Winemaker.
Its been around for a good while.

I thought this would make a good 34th anniversary wine and boy I wasn't disappointed. Massive, stunning, mouth filling and mouth coating - decanted for 12 hours and probably would get even better after a week! Wonderful tannins, fruit bomb - u don't need to eat as the wine is a meal in itself. Easy to see how it could be judged the best red wine in the world against many thousands of others - certainly up there or above any other young wine I've ever drunk. The aftertaste lingers and lingers. If u have one drink it on a special occasion. If u don't its worth sourcing one out. It doesn't get any better than this - makes the 2010 St Henri seem amateurish. 99 points

my bro got a dozen thru the same deal, was so excited that he purchased it at 25% of retail price!!!
we cracked a bottle on Xmas afternoon.... pretty much undrinkable. Sweeter than a can of coke. God awful. The half bottle left was chucked down the sink.
As he said, when a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.

One man's fruit bomb is another man's undrinakble can of coke.

Sounds like you got yourself a deal Luke.

Cheers

Michael

Michael McNally wrote:One man's fruit bomb is another man's undrinakble can of coke.

Sounds like you got yourself a deal Luke.

Cheers

Michael

Don't try Burgundy! Thin and acidic!

felixp wrote:my bro got a dozen thru the same deal, was so excited that he purchased it at 25% of retail price!!!
we cracked a bottle on Xmas afternoon.... pretty much undrinkable. Sweeter than a can of coke. God awful. The half bottle left was chucked down the sink.
As he said, when a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Hi Felixp

Note that I decanted this wine and left it for 12 hours before i started drinking it - no wonder u couldn't drink it. Doubt that anyone could straight out of the bottle.

Does your bro want to sell these to me?

Michael McNally wrote:One man's fruit bomb is another man's undrinakble can of coke.

Sounds like you got yourself a deal Luke.

Cheers

Michael

+ 1

I like this wine, its big, mouth coating, vibrant, rich which is nothing wrong with it, its delicious, far from some dude tipped the rest into the sink!!!!
BTW, I didn't decant it for 12 hours either, just pour through a Venturi airator into a decanter for 30 mins.
Cheers Boyeah

well one thing's for sure, its definitely a contentious wine!
ahhh, the beauty of the human palate and its uniqueness to each and every individual

Luke W wrote:

felixp wrote:my bro got a dozen thru the same deal, was so excited that he purchased it at 25% of retail price!!!
we cracked a bottle on Xmas afternoon.... pretty much undrinkable. Sweeter than a can of coke. God awful. The half bottle left was chucked down the sink.
As he said, when a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Hi Felixp

Note that I decanted this wine and left it for 12 hours before i started drinking it - no wonder u couldn't drink it. Doubt that anyone could straight out of the bottle.

Does your bro want to sell these to me?

yea, that is possible. Was also 39C on Xmas afternoon, doubt that helped. It was like treacle for us, but hey, we are oldies, and as you age you have less tolerance for really big wines.
My bro is away skiing ATM, I will ask him when he gets back. I think he said he would give it to his staff hahaha