The Auswine Forum

Ross Estate North Ridge Shiraz Barossa Valley 2002 $16.99US - Screw cap
Dark cherry red, almost black. Looks like it came directly from the barrel. Initially a little closed with hints of chocolate and earth. In the mouth this wine is a little thin, and lacking in the mid-palate, with mouth watering acidity and an astringent finish. The flavors carry through on retronasal. Over a few hours it developed pepper and licorice flavors. The next day it showed some wintergreen mint charatcer but was even more astringent with a sharp acid finish. It might be interesting to revisit this in a year or two just to see if the screw cap lets the wine soften. 14% alcohol.

Mike

Hi Mike, this is a second label from Ross Estate, they also have a standard shiraz and a Reserve (I think Parker gave the 01 Reserve 93 points). I think it can be had in Australia for $A14 or so (cellar door).

A group of us tried all the 01's last year and found them to be crowd pleasers: all carrying some residual sugar, making them much sweeter than a typical Barossa Shiraz.

This sounds like a change in style, less sweet, and less fruit forward as well. To me thats a good change in direction!

thanks for posting this,

cheers

AB

Hi AB:

The only other Ross Estate wine I've seen (and have access to but have not tasted) is the standard Barossa Valley Shiraz (2001). One of the problems in the US is that once anything breakes the 90 point barrier it become extremely difficult to get (especially if its low production). I could be wrong but its my impression that such wines seem to disappear into the East Coast - that's probably where all the Reserve is!

Both the standard 2001 Ross Estate shiraz and the North Ridge apparently got 90 points from Parker. In fact the 90 points for the previous vintage is being used as a selling point for the 2002 North Ridge. Right now I'm tasting my way (slowly) through all the 2002's that I can get and the North Ridge ended up on the list. Its the first screw cap shiraz I've seen over here!

Mike