1995 WENDOUREE SHIRAZ - ICH BIN EIN AUSLÄNDER

Wendouree occupies an exalted position within the Australian wine scene. It produces tightly structured, long-lived wines that blur the lines between Australia and the Old World.

James Halliday sums things up just about right when he describes Wendouree as ‘an iron fist in a velvet glove’. Wendouree’s wines possess immense power and concentration framed by marked tannins, but have an underlying sense of elegance and finesse.

While it is very much its own wine, Wendouree Shiraz gives a nod to the great long-lived Syrahs of the hill of Hermitage in the northern Rhône. Both are powerful, masculine wines built for the long haul, but completely unforced and natural. One certainly wouldn’t mistake Wendouree Shiraz for Rhône Valley Syrah. Up-front mint and menthol confirm its Australian origin. Yet, there is a serious savoury note to the wine, a sense of reserve, that places it outside the conventional Australian wine domain.

Almost 20 years from vintage, the 1995 (Wendouree’s centenary vintage) Wendouree Shiraz, is starting to take shape. Still deep crimson in appearance, it possesses a smouldering bouquet of coal, baked earth and dark fruits. While the structured tannins of youth have melted there is sufficient depth and intensity to suggest a further 10 or more years development potential.

This is not a wine for all. Those accustomed to typical Australian up-front sweet fruit will find little pleasure in this very serious and slightly demanding wine. This is a wine that will appeal to those with a leaning to the wines of the Old World.

1995 WENDOUREE SHIRAZ
Producer: Wendouree
Variety: Syrah/Shiraz
Vintage: 1995
Region: Clare Valley, South Australia
Alcohol: 13.0%
Closure: Natural cork
Retail Price: N/a
Date tasted: 18 October 2014

Tasting Note:
Deep crimson. Aristocratic nose of mint/menthol, graphite, coal, smoke, slightly earthy. Dry, medium bodied, savoury and very serious. Not an easy fruit forward wine – savoury sour cherry, tilled earth, cedar, dark fruits. Although the tannins have softened appreciably, there’s at least a decades upside with this wine.
Score: 18.5/20