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PARKER PERFECTParker Perfect 99 and 100 point wines in the March Sterling Catalogue When only the best will do! 2001 Greenock Creek Shiraz Creek Block 100pts Lot 490A perfect wine, the magnificent 2001 Shiraz Creek Block (240 cases) exhibits notes of burning embers, melted road tar, truffles, blackberries, and creme de cassis. With huge glycerin and a full-bodied, sensational finish, it represents the essence of wine Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.comCurrent Release Cost www.erobertparker.com June 2007 $US285 The 2004 Shiraz "Creek Block" is near otherworldly. It was sourced from a 66-year-old vineyard with yields of 1.0 tons per acre and aged for 28 months in used American oak. It delivers a super-fragrant nose of smoked meat, bacon, violets, an earthy/truffle element, blackberry, and blueberry muffin. This leads to a full-bodied, voluptuous wine with gobs of spicy, complex blue and black fruit flavors, great balance, and a finish that just won’t quit. This loaded wine can be enjoyed now but will drink well for another 15-20 years. Greenock Creek Vineyard and Cellars, owned by Michael and Annabelle Waugh, is one of the Barossa’s benchmark wineries. Start with a great terroir, add in old vine material, and meticulous winemaking and the results are usually extraordinary. Importer: Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.comCurrent Release Cost www.erobertparker.com November 2007 $US150 The 2001 Shiraz “Roennfeldt Road,” from an outstanding vintage, is the finest since the near-perfect 1998. Opaque purple/black, it offers a mind-boggling bouquet of pencil lead, earth, white truffle, pepper, violets, licorice, blackberry, and blueberry compote. Dense, opulent, and full-bodied, there are mouth-filling, spicy, blue and black fruit flavors with notes of chocolate in the background. This sensational effort demands 8-10 years of additional bottle age and should drink well through 2030. Greenock Creek Vineyard and Cellars, owned by Michael and Annabelle Waugh, is one of the Barossa’s benchmark wineries. Start with a great terroir, add in old vine material, and meticulous winemaking and the results are usually extraordinary. Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.com November 2007 $US465 The 1998 Grange will be legendary. A blend of 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, it tips the scales at a whopping 14.5% alcohol. The inky/purple color is followed by an extraordinarily intense nose of creme de cassis intermixed with blueberry and floral notes. As the wine sits in the glass, aromas of meat, plums, and cola also emerge. It is a seamless effort with sweet tannin, well-integrated acidity, sensational extract, and layer upon layer of blackberry and cassis fruit that stain the palate and fill the mouth. Its harmony, freshness, and remarkable length (the finish lasts nearly a minute) suggest an all-time classic. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2030. Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.com June 2007 $US295-535 Consistently one of the most awesome wines ever made at Grange, this blend of 89% Shiraz and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon (13.9% alcohol) was the first Australian wine to cost $20 upon release. I have had this wine six separate times, every time rating it between 96 and 100. It had a phenomenal showing at Penfolds' Magill estate. The color is an opaque purple, the wine massive, full-bodied, and to me, the quintessential Grange. Notes of blackberry liqueur intermixed with cassis, charcoal, new saddle leather, and underbrush resonate from the glass. Huge, thick, unctuously textured, with extraordinary concentration but perfect harmony among all of its elements, this is a prodigious Grange that is still not fully mature. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020. A legend for sure! Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.comJune 2007 $US1,100-1,400 A current as well as future legend, this has long been considered by Penfolds' winemaking team as the greatest Grange of the 1980s. And why not? A blend of 87% Shiraz and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, it tips the scales at nearly 14% alcohol. I have been fortunate to have this wine nearly a dozen times, and I have consistently rated it 96-100. It was virtually perfect in June, exhibiting an opaque purple color and a provocative nose of creme de cassis intermixed with smoke, chocolate, licorice, new saddle leather, and pepper. The wine is fleshy, massively concentrated, multi-dimensional with extraordinary power, beautifully integrated acidity, tannin, and alcohol, that seems to only occur in the greatest vintages. Moreover, the wine is still a baby and ideally in need of another 3-5 years of cellaring. This is a Grange to kill for. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2030. Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.comCurrent Release Cost www.erobertparker.com June 2007 $US600-635 The 2002 Run Rig (97% Shiraz and 3% Viognier aged in 100% new French oak) represents the essence of old vine Barossa fruit. Extraordinarily opulent and rich, but playing it closer to the vest than the 2001, it gets my nod as one of the most remarkable wines made in either the Southern or Northern Hemisphere. An inky/purple color is accompanied by a sumptuous bouquet of apricots, honeysuckle, black raspberries, blackberries, licorice, and a hint of roasted meats. The wood has been soaked up by the wine’s extraordinary concentration. Fashioned from four sectors of Barossa (Maranaga, Koonunga Hill, Moppa, and Greenock), it spent 30 months in primarily new oak, and was bottled without fining or filtration. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020+. David Powell, unquestionably one of the world’s finest wine producers, has an uncanny ability to discover old vine Barossa vineyards, and then secure long term contracts for their fruit. It is amazing that such high quality sources have not already been plucked by Australia’s giant wine corporations. Torbreck’s wines continue to get better and better, combining the old vine ripe fruit of Barossa with a European sensitivity to elegance and balance. The finest wines in this portfolio are pricy, but David Powell delivers some remarkable reds and whites at prices that are more than fair for the quality in the bottle Current Release Cost www.erobertparker.comJune 2007 $US160-350 March 2010 |
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Sterling
Wine Auctions & Exchange
Suite 4, 257 York Street, SUBIACO WA 6008 TEL: (08)9388 9955 Fax: (08)9388 9970 Email: sterling@sterlingwine.com.au |