Paringa Estate Reserve Shiraz 2004 Saturday, Sep 30 2006
Tasting Notes and Australia and Mornington and Variety and Red and shiraz et al
This wine has won a heap of medals and gongs and I had to try it. I am not a great fan of cool climate shiraz but this wine won me over. It is not cheap and compared to the Seppelt wine recently reviewed by GW one would have to question that many $$$. But, it had gorgeous fine tannins that gave it delicious texture. The fruit and its cracked pepper were in perfect harmony with nice spicy oak. The palate rolled around for some time. I am very cynical of wines with great show success and after all the hoo ha between the Aussie wine Mafia and Parker et al just before this wine got all its awards I was ready to be underwhelmed. But no, its a ripper. Well done Lindsay.
Tasted : Sep06
Alcohol : 14.4%
Price : $80
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2006 - 2010
Source : Cellar Door
Visit winery website
Print this article
eMail this article
October 1st, 2006 at 1:24 am| Quote |
What medals and gongs has this wine won? I know the standard Shiraz 04 picked up four trophies (inter alia) at Sydney earlier this year - I didn’t realise this had been shown. And I wasn’t aware Parker has ever seen any of Lindsay’s wines…have you seen next month’s Wine Advocate early?
I’m one of Lindsay’s biggest fans, but I hadn’t seen any awards for this wine pre-release. When is he releasing it? And can you please confirm what it’s already been awarded?
October 1st, 2006 at 7:29 am| Quote |
The Parker stoush was pre show and had NOTHING to do with Lindsays wines. BUT, Parker and Kramer were making comments about wine styles(P) and show system (K). In essence Halliday said the show system is not ruled by big companies and published data to support it. He also went on to say the Parker hi scores were not Aust best styles and that we do great Rhone styles. Then Lindsays Shiraz did well. I thought it was this one. I will ask him which one got all the gongs but regardless of results this is in my humble opinion, the best shiraz Lindsay has done.
October 2nd, 2006 at 5:24 am| Quote |
Rang Lindsay and it was his 2004 Shiraz that got all the gongs. I asked why the Reserve didn’t get ‘em to be told that the Reserve is not made in sufficient quantities to be entered but that he agreed with me about it being a better wine than the standard? I got this at cellar door 2 weeks ago so I guess it is released!
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:17 am| Quote |
Thanks for the follow-up. I may have misunderstood precisely what you were referring to in the initial post. But I can’t wait to try this wine - the standard ‘04 is very impressive (but I’m still quite surprised it got four trophies in Sydney!).
October 2nd, 2006 at 2:33 pm| Quote |
I’ve tried the Standard Estate shiraz a few times and it’s certainly a great wine. If this is better then i think the pricing is reasonable. Seppelts can make use of economies of scale etc to keep their wines cheaper, a produer of Paringa’s scale cant compete on that level. Compare it to say Torbreck or Moss Wood, Bass Phillip etc i dont see a problem with the wine’s price. It’s not like 2005 Bordeaux en primuer pricing which leaves great wines just for the super rich or trophy hunters.$80 is not unreasonable for a superb wine, in many ways it’s a bargain.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:42 pm| Quote |
I have seen the standard shade the reserve a few times.
And the 05 will shade the 04.
Obviously you can see the difference a year in bottle gives but still the 05 is a beauty.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:40 pm| Quote |
Not in the class of a good Rhone?
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:39 pm| Quote |
You mean brett aand pepper style or clean?
October 4th, 2006 at 12:01 am| Quote |
I mean not so clean its boring. And not having had the winemaker sleep in on the morning of picking and letting a cool climate wine hit 14 and a half + degrees. Their Pinots are the most overated wines in the world.
October 4th, 2006 at 12:11 am| Quote |
Its all about personal taste. Look at all the positive votes for the Hoddles Creek PN yet a few don’t like it. Great. Humans are different! I think the sleep in bit is a bit harsh re the alcohol. If it tastes hot say so and avoid it. To me it didn’t taste hot. Berry sensory analysis training leads winemakers to pick by flavours and sometimes this means 13% can look hot and at other times 15% can look fine. I have reviewed several cheaper Rhone wines lately and the Domaine de la Mordoree La Reine des Bois Lirac 2003 looked pretty damned good and clean although not boring. Reckon I would still prefer the Paringa Reserve though.
October 6th, 2006 at 10:02 pm| Quote |
Muscat, you and i indeed must have different palates. I had a 2002 Paringa Reserve Pinot Noir a few nights ago and it was sensational. J.O gave it 82 pts, but others have rated it in the high 90’s. It just goes to show we all like different juice.