More Aussie Shiraz Tasting notes

On thursday we had a heavenly experience. The Australian Wine experience came to Vancouver. For 50 bucks (canuckistan), we could try as much aussie wines as we could handle. Soo many to choose from, so little blood to carry the alcohol :-)

I've been told that my previous posting on 2001 Barossa Shiraz was a little too focused, so I decided to expand to any Shiraz from 2001. It was a really neat experience, being able to directly compare the same year and grape of almost 50 different producers. We made it through about half the producers. I'm going to provide an extensive run-down of the trials, lowlights/highlights, and some commentary.

I started noticing the difference between wines with 14-14.5% alcohol and 13-13.5%. I found the extra percent made a noticeable taste difference, specifically the back of my mouth had more of an acid/astringent after taste. I was able to guess either 13 or 14% alcohol about 2/3 of the time when comparing. I think they ought to go for the lower alcohol as I didn't enjoy the aftertaste from the extra alcohol.

I found it interesting comparing our wine ratings in a wine tasting environment compared to the kind of one-of tasting we've been doing. The most noticable difference was that I liked the Wolf Blass Premium Shiraz a lot standalone, but it suffered under direct competition, dropping from 90 to 86.

It was also interesting comparing our ratings to Parker or Wine Spectator. On the whole, our ratings were within 2 points of them, and we had same ratings on the low end. We even got the black label as a best buy before we saw WS had it as a best value. Pretty neat.

Highlights: The Maglieri 2001 Shiraz is now our favorite in the low $20 range. It handily beat the Wolf Blass classic, Greg Norman, Black Opal, and crushed the Palandri. The McGuigan Black Label is our new favorite in the mid teens range, and rates a D&D Best Buy. The McGuigan Genus 4 is our next favourites in the $20 range. The Annvers McLaren Vale was our favorite in the $40 range, beating the St Hallet Blackwell and Old Block. We tried a few high end other wines, and they were super nice. But too expensive for us..

Lowlights: The Palindri was sweet and blah.

For those of you who live in Vancouver, I snatched up the last of the Maglieri from Cambie/39th and Broadway/Maple. I hear there's 6 bottles left at the Alberni store. The Annvers should be available end of February, the McGuigan Black Label isn't available, and the Genus 4 that's available is the 2002. :-(

And now, in order of preference, here's what we tried, our rating, and any 3rd party ratings that I know of:

D'arenberg Coppermine Cabernet Sauvignon: 92, $60. Parker rates 93.

Annvers McLarenVale Shiraz: 92, $40
Maglieri Barossa Shiraz: 91, $22
MacGuigan Genus 4 Shiraz: 90, $26
Petaluma Tiers Chardonnay 2000: 90, $100. Parker rates 88

Sandalford Premium Margaret River Shiraz: 89, $29
St. Hallett Old Block 1999: 89, $50

Bleasdale Bremerview Shiraz: 88, $22. Parker rates 89
D'arenberg Footbolt: 88, $22. Parker rates 90.
Houghton Shiraz: 88, $20
St. Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 1999: 88, $31. Wine Spectator 91.

Grant Burge Miamba: 87, $28
Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz: 87, $23. Previously reviewed, a favourite in terms of taste but it seems to have too much preservatives. Wine Spectator 89. Parker rates 87
MacGuigan Black Label: 86, $13. Wine Spectator 85, Best Value.
St Hallett Faith Shiraz: 87, $26. Wine Spectator 88.
Wolf Blass Brown Label 2000: 87, $30
Yalumba Barossa: 87, $24. Wine Spectator 87.

Evans & Tate Margaret River: 86 $25
Wolf Blass Premium Selection Shiraz: 86, $28

Wynn's Coonawarra: 85, $20. Too acidic from the 14.5% alcohol. Wine Spectator 87.
Greg Norman: 83, 27
Black Opal: 82, $17. Wine Spectator 83.
Palindri Western Australia: 81, $25. Wine Spectator 81.