The Auswine Forum

Colour just starting to fade. Nose is forest berries, with that fragrant lift grenache can get, and a dose of bootpolish & leather. The palate starts with these same "black" notes, some lovely pepper and spice, and the same basket of berries. There is a touch of stalk in amongst this which adds some complexity. The texture is slightly viscous and theres some alcohol lift on the back (its about 25 degrees today). A still life painting on an easel of well judged tannin and acid. 89/100

A group of us did a Nine Popes vertical just after Christmas, and the striking thing at that tasting was the consistency from vintage to vintage - there were no poor wines from 94 to 02.

cheers

Andrew

Just had a casual Aust Day BBQ with a few of the boys and girls, lots of good wine without really concentrating on them.

The 2000 Charles Melton Shiraz was a bit stewy but still drank well, not a long term wine, probably a reflection of the vintage.

On Nine Popes, I've had the 94 on a couple of occasions last year and it was outstanding.

I have the 00 Shiraz on the bench, might look at it next cool day we get. that could be March though

On the nine popes, the standouts for me in that vertical were the 96, 99 and 02 (and one really old one, 91 I think?) with 98 not ar behind. But one of them were spectacular: Nothing above 92 points.