Mitchelton Print Series Shiraz 1990
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:15 am
G'day
I did a bit of rummaging around in the cellar a couple of weeks ago. It's so overcrowded that I had to move 10-12 dozen wines out of the way to reach this particular part of the cellar - where my oldest Australian shiraz lives (apart from the few Granges and 90As in a timber box).
I found this bottle, amongst a couple of others. Apparently this won the Jimmy Watson in 1991. I hadn't tried it before, and purchased it at auction on the basis of my visit to Mitchelton in 2012, when I was able to buy 1999-2001 back vintages along with the (then) current vintage 2009. The write up of my visit is here: http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f ... on#p101310
Because of its advanced age, however, it was opened with trepidation (and a back up wine on hand). Decanted about 2 hours before consumption, and continued to grow in the glass for 2 hours after that (by which time it was gone
)
Still purple in the glass, without signs of browning or orange hues. It took a little while to evolve in the glass, which meant the nose was initially muted - oh no, it might be past it. Gradually, developed fruit characters came out and there were pale plums and dark cherries. Florals also began to emerge, including rose petal. There's a touch of tar as well.
The palate still retains good supporting acid and fine powdery tannins. The tar element persists as does well developed dark fruits. There's also some leather and earthiness - not unexpected in wines from the Central Victorian area, let alone one of this age.
Given that I approached opening this wine (in esteemed company, I should add) wi9th trepidation, I was not disappointed. It was accepted for what it was (a curio from last century) while still demonstrating its credentials. Onya Mitchelton!
Cheers
Allan
I did a bit of rummaging around in the cellar a couple of weeks ago. It's so overcrowded that I had to move 10-12 dozen wines out of the way to reach this particular part of the cellar - where my oldest Australian shiraz lives (apart from the few Granges and 90As in a timber box).
I found this bottle, amongst a couple of others. Apparently this won the Jimmy Watson in 1991. I hadn't tried it before, and purchased it at auction on the basis of my visit to Mitchelton in 2012, when I was able to buy 1999-2001 back vintages along with the (then) current vintage 2009. The write up of my visit is here: http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f ... on#p101310
Because of its advanced age, however, it was opened with trepidation (and a back up wine on hand). Decanted about 2 hours before consumption, and continued to grow in the glass for 2 hours after that (by which time it was gone
)Still purple in the glass, without signs of browning or orange hues. It took a little while to evolve in the glass, which meant the nose was initially muted - oh no, it might be past it. Gradually, developed fruit characters came out and there were pale plums and dark cherries. Florals also began to emerge, including rose petal. There's a touch of tar as well.
The palate still retains good supporting acid and fine powdery tannins. The tar element persists as does well developed dark fruits. There's also some leather and earthiness - not unexpected in wines from the Central Victorian area, let alone one of this age.
Given that I approached opening this wine (in esteemed company, I should add) wi9th trepidation, I was not disappointed. It was accepted for what it was (a curio from last century) while still demonstrating its credentials. Onya Mitchelton!
Cheers
Allan