I always seem to have a cold when the most important tastings come up. This one was likely a combination of flogging myself for two weeks in Spain (may be a bad choice of words there) and international air travel. Anyway, I was a bit out of sorts on the day. As multiple vintages of Mount Pleasant were on offer (stretching from the ‘54 Richard Hermitage through to the unreleased ‘05 Maurice O’Shea shiraz) I used some Hunter Valley Jedi mind tricks to convince myself that I was tasting at about 70% efficiency and focussed on tasting in the renowned style…

You can see chief winemaker Phil Ryan in the picture above. You can also see the back of a few peoples heads, a rather small claw-like arm, and beyond that again, some staff who work at Marque Restaurant in Surry Hills. I know they work there because this is where the tasting was held. Phil Ryan is only the third winemaker for McWilliams Mount Pleasant since it was founded in 1921 by the legendary Maurice O’Shea. He grabbed the baton that was passed on from Brian Walsh (a surname commonly associated with greatness in wine) in 1978 , who in turn took it from champion Maurice in 1956. Young Andrew Leembruggen is waiting down the straight for a clean handover from Phil sometime in the (hopefully) not too distant future.
The Maurice O’Shea shiraz was first produced in 1987 as a tribute to the great man. It is made only in exceptional vintages and produced in small quantities. The fruit is sourced mainly from 120 year old vines grown on heavy, rich, volcanic soils on Mount Pleasant’s Old Hill Vineyard on the foothills of the Brokenback Ranges. A little additional fruit comes from the Old Paddock vineyard which was planted in 1921 by Maurice O’Shea. The oak treatment was 100% American until the 1998 vintage where 5% French was included in the mix. The 2000 sees 70% and the 2003 is 100% French oak. Praise the lord! Good things come to those who wait.

The Tasting
Logically you can divide this tasting into three sections of four. The back row (from L to R) contains the old Mount Pleasant wines 1954 Richard Hermitage, 1957 Hermitage, 1964 Old Paddock Shiraz, 1976 Old Paddock & Old Hill Shiraz. In the middle row we have the middle aged vintages of the Maurice O’Shea Shiraz including the 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1994. In the front row we have the big burly young wines from 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005.

Notes are pretty much as I scribbled them on the day. My nose was working quite well but the palate was over sensitive to astringency. I am keeping this in mind with the notes and only publishing a score for the 2003 vintage which I had again over a rather delicious lunch with a range of other Mount Pleasant wines. This helped greatly to revive me. Notes on vintage conditions (in italics) are from Mount Pleasant which I include because I find them very interesting.

1954 Richard Hermitage
Sweet leathery and ‘tawny’ smelling of things like tokay, tea, brown sauce and spice. Quite enchanting. Holding good body for such an old wine. There is some fruit and light malty flavours. Still hanging in there but was fading in the glass. This wine made by Maurice O’Shea.
An outstanding vintage renowned for producing some classic, long lived Hunter Valley wines.

1957 Hermitage
The colour on this wine is remarkable. Look second on the left back row although the photo does not do it justice. Earth, dried leaves, licorice, peat moss and sweet fruit. The palate is holding plenty of fruit and tannin. It still has grip. Long finish. A remarkable and complete wine. Every bit as good as old Bordeaux.
The 1957 vintage was a return to a relatively dry ripening and harvest period. The red varieties of pinot noir and Hermitage performed extremely well, producing wines of excellent colour, rich in varietal aroma and fruit palate weight. These wines matured into the typical earthy, leathery nuances of Hunter reds from a classic vintage.

1964 Mount Pleasant Old Paddock Shiraz
Smells of Xmas cake and marzipan, caramel and mushroom with VA lift. Sweet fruit and mushroom, Vegemite flavours. Fortified wine overtones. Smooth. Still excellent.
An excellent growing season with adequate rainfall during spring and early summer followed by spells of hot weather. A heatwave experienced over Christmas was soon alleviated by a cool change with soaking rain. With excellent ripening parameters, the crop was a marked improvement on the previous vintage. The weather during harvest was perfect , with fine, cool conditions and little rain.

1976 Old Paddock & Old Hill Shiraz
Smokey, licorice, tar, pepper. Quite potent smelling. Grippy and very dry with red fruit and mushroom. Slightly pooey. Not a bad wine. Not a particularily good one either.
The 1976 vintage was a most difficult vintage with consistent rain periods throughout harvest resulting in delayed ripening and the threat of bunch rot….the sloping blocks along the Mount Pleasant hillside (Old Paddock & Old Hill vineyards) afforded good drainage and sun exposure to achieve relatively high sugar levels given these conditions.

1987 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 13% Alcohol
Iced Vovo, red fruit and leather. Some VA. Bright red fruit that is supple and smooth on the palate. Some leathery flavours. It is spicy too and you can still taste the oak influence. Very good fruit quality. Long dry finish. This was getting better with time in the glass. I don’t much like the oak but this is a very good wine. It still has a future. I loved the Rosehill from this year but knocked off our last bottle around 2000.
After an excellent budburst and good early rain, the remainder of the growing season, up until late November, remained unseasonably cool and the low rainfall restricted the vine development. Heatwave conditions in January resulted in some stress during ripening but also resulted in high sugar levels. The fruit was big in flavour due to quick ripening during harvest, which also caused some vine stress.

1988 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 12.5% Alcohol
As above more Iced Vovo, red fruit and leather. This is more medium bodied than the richer ‘87 and it has good balance with grainy tannins and a good finish. A solid mature Hunter that is ready to drink now.
Excellent late winter raines resulted in even budburst..Consistent rainfall throughout the growing season then resulted in a high yielding vintage, although persistent heavy rain delayed ripening and placed pressure on disease control.

1991 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 12.5% Alcohol
Some gluey vanilla oak here but not as dominant as the 80’s wines. Sweet red fruit, licorice, leather/earth, pepper and a touch of smoke. Plenty of weight on the palate especially considering the modest alcohol. Savoury leathery red fruit and very good length. A very good wine. Drink from now till about 2010 I would guess. Again the Rosehill from this vintage was one of my favourite wines.
Excellent rainfall during the autumn and winter months resulted in a near perfect budburst…dry conditions from October through to January…the harvest period remained hot and dry, allowing for perfect , and in some cases, rapid ripening of all varieties. This resulted in maximum colour and sugar levels.
I wonder why then is this wine only 12.5% and later hot dry vintages 14% and over?

1994 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 12.5% Alcohol
Strong colour. Chocolate, cherry and berry pie and plenty of coconut and vanilla oak. Very good fruit with cherry flavours and plenty of spicy vanilla oak. Dry finish. I find the oak distracting in this wine at the moment but I suspect it will integrate better with another 5 or so years under it’s belt - like the 1987. It should live for a very long time.
Good winter rainfall led to excellent budburst during August. The mild and generally moist conditions continued into spring, resulting in good shoot growth and vigour with early indications of a good vintage…Mother Nature took a turn for the worse during late December, with extremely hot conditions resulting in the worst bushfires on record in NSW. The effect was delayed veraison and crop reduction. However,the intermittent rain periods during harvest proved a bonus, replacing much needed soil moisture. With no evidence of bunch rot, the result was clean, sound fruit of good quality and flavour.

1998 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 14% alcohol
Strong ripe blackberry and licorice aromas. Slightly gluey oak but folding nicely into the wine now. Wow. This has powerful dark fruit and plenty of ripe fine tannins. Fresher and more vibrant than the 2000 and certainly set for the long term. Excellent wine.
This vintage was acclaimed Australia wide as the best of the 1990’s. In the Hunter Valley, it was certainly the best vintage experienced for several decades. The growing season started perfectly with excellent soil moisture from the summer and autumn of 1997. In early summer, the weather turned hot and dry, which made for a disease free growing period right up until the harvest…good yields reduced somewhat by a heatwave from Christmas to late January. Rapid ripening, high sugar levels and concentration of fruit flavour, due to reduced juice to skin ratio.

2000 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 14.5% alcohol
Creamy vanilla oak (slightly resiny) on very rich dark fruit. Darrel Lea licorice. A very smooth powerful wine with mouthcoating tannin, ripe dark fruit and great length. Close to being porty but just stays within the boundary line. Classic wine with decades ahead of it.
The autumn, winter and spring of 1999 followed a similar pattern to the previous year with good rainfall patterns and generally mild conditions. This cool weather pattern continued into the summer months with good rainfall periods and continual cloud cover, which alleviated heat stress problems normally associated with the later part of the growing season. This pattern continued into the new millenium with one short period of warm to hot weather during late January. The result was rapid ripening of all varieties, with harvest beginning on the 24th January and completed on the 25th February - one of the shortest vintages on record.

The amazing harvest parameters were the highlight of this vintage, with rapid ripening to satidfactory sugar levels, while still retaining high levels of natural acidity.

2005 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz 14.5% alcohol
Raw crushed blue and red berry, violets and very good quality French oak starting to mesh in. Massed rich ripe tannins and ripe fruit. So young but my goodness this really looks the goods. Do McWilliams do en-primeur? I’d be at the front of the queue if they did.
The growing season leading up the the 2005 vintage was excellent with cool to mild growing conditions and excellent even rainfall. December saw cool to mild growing conditions, ideal for veraison and the development of cooler climate fruit characters. January saw warm days, coupled with cool nights providing excellent conditions for the completion of veraison and ripening. The vintage was one of the most rapid on record with all varieties ripening simultaneously, a result of the excellent growing conditions and difference in diurnal temperatures.

2003 Maurice O’Shea Shiraz
Plenty of creamy spicy vanilla oak over blackberry/boysenberry fruit with a shake of black pepper and some regional earthiness. A huge grippy concentrated palate with ripe blackberry fruit and spicy earthy flavours. Very long tannic finish. It looks very typical of the vintage and although I wish there was a bit less oak I think the fruit is here to back it up. Great vintage. Great wine.

The growing season was dominated by the worst drought recorded since 1902.Negligable rainfall in the prior autumn, winter and spring resulted in parched clay soils which seriously reduced crop expectations. The only useful rainfall period in the growing season occurred in December, too late to increase the crop but gave welcome relief to severe bushfires in the district.While the yields were disappointing, as so often happens out of the adversity, the quality of the wines produced were outstanding.

Rated : 95 Points
Tasted : Jun06
Alcohol : 14.5%
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2011 - 2023+