The name Rockford needs no introduction to keen followers of Australian wine. It is a Barossa Valley doyen, crafting traditionally styled wines, sourced across the valley floor. Rockford Basket Press Shiraz is a wine held in great affection in the Australian wine community.
1998 was generally regarded as an outstanding vintage for red wines in South Australia’s key wine producing regions, producing wines with excellent fruit intensity and ripe, structured tannins, thus ensuring a long cellaring life. Sixteen years on from vintage, Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1998 remains a work in progress. The tannins have well and truly melted, but primary fruit is still very much to the fore.
At this point in time, the wine offers moderate complexity and is frankly less compelling than the 1997 vintage of the same wine (the last bottle of which was consumed several months ago). Such is the quality of the raw materials here, there is little doubt that it will deliver greater interest with further cellaring, perhaps another 4-5 years or so.
1998 ROCKFORD BASKET PRESS SHIRAZ
Producer: Rockford
Variety: Syrah/Shiraz
Vintage: 1998
Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia
ABV: 14.0%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: N/a
Date tasted: 28 June 2014
Tasting Note:
Deep crimson. Concentrated bouquet of plums and cherries soaked in liqueur, liquorice and tar. Opens up with air to reveal oak vanillin and fig. Full bodied and elegant, most definitely not over the top. The palate flows on from the nose. Tannins are fully resolved, but primary fruit is still very much to the fore. Good length. Very elegant given its warm climate origin, but lacking a touch for complexity at this point in time. Upside for further development over the next 5+ years.
Score: 17+/20
1998 was generally regarded as an outstanding vintage for red wines in South Australia’s key wine producing regions, producing wines with excellent fruit intensity and ripe, structured tannins, thus ensuring a long cellaring life. Sixteen years on from vintage, Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1998 remains a work in progress. The tannins have well and truly melted, but primary fruit is still very much to the fore.
At this point in time, the wine offers moderate complexity and is frankly less compelling than the 1997 vintage of the same wine (the last bottle of which was consumed several months ago). Such is the quality of the raw materials here, there is little doubt that it will deliver greater interest with further cellaring, perhaps another 4-5 years or so.
1998 ROCKFORD BASKET PRESS SHIRAZ
Producer: Rockford
Variety: Syrah/Shiraz
Vintage: 1998
Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia
ABV: 14.0%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: N/a
Date tasted: 28 June 2014
Tasting Note:
Deep crimson. Concentrated bouquet of plums and cherries soaked in liqueur, liquorice and tar. Opens up with air to reveal oak vanillin and fig. Full bodied and elegant, most definitely not over the top. The palate flows on from the nose. Tannins are fully resolved, but primary fruit is still very much to the fore. Good length. Very elegant given its warm climate origin, but lacking a touch for complexity at this point in time. Upside for further development over the next 5+ years.
Score: 17+/20
No comments:
Post a Comment