The Auswine Forum

I opened a bottle of Majella 2002 Shiraz tonight. Found it very heavy on oak, low on fruit and high on acid. Tannins were smooth but. Not terribly impressed! No obvious signs of being corked...in fact, had a good nose. Did I get a bad bottle or is this it?

Many thanks

Ray

Day 2 and it is drinking better. Opened up a bit with the fruit starting to show thorugh above the oak. Very smooth with a great finish. The acid is still therewhich indicates that he wine will probably will be around longer than me.

I thought the Cabernet was well in front of the Shiraz when I tried them recently. Looking forward to another try of the Shiraz with your notes in mind, thanks.

The wine doesn't really resemble what I tried last month - I actually preferred the Shiraz on the day, but I'm reasonably sure the Cabernet Sauvignon will be a big star in the near future.

My notes in case anyone missed them:

2003 Majella Riesling Pale green colour. The nose is very delicate and spicy, with some lime lurking in the background. The palate is very quite powerful with a mix of course slate/mineral flavours, and a long lemon/lime aftertaste on the finish. This is another convincing Coonawarra Riesling to argue not all of the vines in the region should be ripped up for planting more Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.

2002 Majella Shiraz Deep purple/red. Gorgeous complex nose that’s continually changing; coffee barrel-ferment, chocolate, vanilla, tar, coal, rich blackberry and blackcurrants, a hint of mint, and fruit cake characters in a rich but elegant bouquet. The palate again is a lush mix of coffee oak and rich blackberry fruit, with very obvious and powerful powdery tannins. My favourite of the new releases.

2002 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon Deep, dark purple colour. An extremely green nose, with tea leaf, pencil notes, and some peas and cabbage characters that weren’t to my liking. The palate is slightly less green but still very minty, with the blackcurrant fruit in a reserved mode letting the fine-grained but hefty tannins stick out. The Prof (Brian Lynn) said that the Shiraz and Cabernet generally get a 50/50 split with peoples’ preferences – mine was for the former this time around. That said it could be a very different story with an additional 10 years bottle age.

2001 Majella “The Malleea” Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Deep, dark purple/red colour. I got to try this last year as a barrel sample, and it’s interesting to see how it’s progressed in 12 months. Back then the coffee barrel ferment, tar and VA were very obvious – this time around it’s a lot tighter, still with some coffee and tar there, but the blackberry Shiraz and green/minty Cabernet were in a real arm-wrestle. The result was that while the wine looked to have all the ingredients for greatness, it seemed to be locked up at present. The Prof seemed to agree, saying it had just started to come out of an exceptionally sulky stage of its early life in the bottle.

A customer had contacted the Prof earlier in the week saying he had a few bottles of the 1993, 1994 and 1995 Shiraz, and wanted to exchange them as he thought they were off. After trying them and assessing that absolutely nothing was wrong with the bottles, the Prof agreed to the trade and added the 1994 and 1995 to the Saturday public tasting!

1994 Majella Shiraz Deep, brick red. Wonderful complex bouquet of old leather, mint/menthol, some ash, grilled nuts and vanilla. The velvety tannins have fully integrated, with rich, subtle raspberry fruit flowing through the impressive length of the wine, finishing with a nutty aftertaste. Magnificent drinking now, begging for a good slice of aged cheddar.

1995 Majella Shiraz Deep, brick red. Again a wonderful complex bouquet; the mint/menthol was more obvious this time around, and there was a hint of barnyard and coffee oak as well as old leather. The velvety tannins were more obvious in the front palate of the wine, and the raspberry fruit while appearing more powerful at first, dropped off in the finish. An amazing subtle contrast to the 1994 to highlight the leanness of the 1995 vintage, and the general consistency of the style.

2002 Majella Sparkling Shiraz Deep, dark purple/red colour with an impressive mousse and very fine bead. In the past I tended to find the sparkling red too green and phenolic for my liking, but last year a subtle change in style changed my opinion. This vintage continues the theme, with rich earthy chocolate, blackberry fruit, some mint, and a hint of brandied butter and supporting coffee oak, which all flow on to the thick, creamy palate. The Prof explained that the only changes they made were that the wine spends a longer time on lees and lesser time in oak, but the oak itself is newer than previous vintages. While they haven’t noticed much change in the wine style themselves, I’ve certainly warmed to the results of the changes.


Cheers,
Ian

Many thanks for you comments. I was expecting a lot from the 2002 - particularly after the 2001 - but didn't get it. Your comments have persuaded me to try another bottle.