The Auswine Forum

In the interests of science someone had to give it a go...

"Caravan of Dreams" Shiraz Pressings
Deep purple/black colour, initially the nose was very closed and I could only get vanilla and marzipan with a touch of spice, this opened up over the night to reveal blue berries and a touch of plum.

On the palate this is very mouthfilling, plenty of spice, dark chocolate and reasonably agressive tannin, initally it had a very bitter charcoal burnt taste on the back of the palate which calmed down slightly as the wine breathed some more. Finish was long.

Overall, but for the burnt flavours (which I think will soften with time), this is a very good wine, but it needs a lot of time to open up. Im happy to have a couple of bottles sitting in the cellar and look forward to trying them in about 5 years.

A question...was the burnt taste charred oak??? or something else??

Tatiarra Trademark Shiraz
Again deep deep colour, nice nose of sweet fruit, plums, milk chocolate. Looks good...take a small sip... ...its just too alcoholic hot, tastes a little like whiskey. Those who like wines like the doyen will probably like this wine but just not my cup of tea...the koreans in the bar enjoyed it though, but that being said they do also love Soju and ample quantities of cheap whiskey ...

Adam

Thanks for your review.

I resisted buying some Tatiarra, on the basis that I am uncomfortable buying anything from Nick and his love-child winemaker Ben Riggs.

So far he has given all his wines and brands 95+ including the new Tatiarra, Journeys End and Mr Riggs. From what I can gather he is the exclusive local distributor for these wines.

Pana,

Actually ther whole reason I got them was because of this....I was really curious to see how good they actually were. I wouldnt give them 98/100, but it was still a good wine, maybe if I was forced to give a score, 93/100.

I have never tried the Journeys or Mr Riggs...

Pana wrote:Adam

Thanks for your review.

I resisted buying some Tatiarra, on the basis that I am uncomfortable buying anything from Nick and his love-child winemaker Ben Riggs.

So far he has given all his wines and brands 95+ including the new Tatiarra, Journeys End and Mr Riggs. From what I can gather he is the exclusive local distributor for these wines.

Hello

He appears to have exclusive Journey's End, and they openly state ownership in Tatiarra, but Mr Riggs is separate.

I sold the 2001 and am about to get the 2002, which by the way, is very very good indeed.

Also Ben Riggs makes for other labels with no link at all, like Geoff Hardy, Pertaringa etc, and is a very very good wine maker.

I've heard that Nick is buying up big in Southcorp shares. Does anyone know anything about this? Wonder what he's up to???

Updated to include the Trademark Shiraz I had last night...its just not my bag.