Purchased for $30 from Wine Library yesterday and consumed in a Riedel Sommelier Bordeaux stem.

The grapes for this wine were harvested from thirty year old vines on the Red Edge vineyard - one of the first planted in Heathcote (Central Victoria, Australia). The vines grow in ancient Cambrian red volcanic soils, are not irrigated and yield rarely exceeds one ton per acre (wow!). One quarter of the grapes were whole bunch crushed by foot treading -the balance was crushed and destemmed. This wine spent 12 months in oak and went through a natural malo fermentation.

This particular bottle caught my eye with it's cool label. After researching the 2000 Red Edge Shiraz in the latest WA (93+ points), I decided to give this a test drive.

Seriously dark purple almost black in the decanter. The nose was muted. Dark thick legs trickled down the decanter and glass.

I took my first glass after two hours in the decanter. Wow! What power in this wine! Everything from boysenberry, soy, to a slight chocolate-covered cherry was in this glass. Toward the end of the bottle, a little sweet oak came through in the aftertaste. The acidity was noticeably high --- actually too high in my opinion.

Highly viscous with serious mouth-coating glycerin, this wine *could* be verging on spectacular. The finish lasted 20+ seconds and wavered between dark fruit and the vanilla oak.

There's no question that this wine has all the pieces of a great wine - I just didn't feel like they were assembled yet (and rightfully so - it's only a 2001!).

If all the pieces come together with bottle aging, then this could merit a mid 90's score - easily.

The winemaker (Peter Dredge) says it will benefit from lengthy cellaring. No doubt. I picked up another 3 bottles and will try another in 5 years.

Score reserved but it should be in the 92-95 range (outstanding to potentially classic). It should be noted that the 1998 version of this wine scored 92 from RP.

STW, did Ian recommend this to you? He recommended to me and I picked one up. Great timing on your notes. Supposedly it's the Shiraz that's out of this world, but sold out! Keep your eye out for the 2001 and 2002. Seems 2002 is shaping up to be a great year as well for Aussy Shiraz.

I was dying to try this.
Poured right after opening.

Really dark, deep garnet color.
Lots of mint, tobacco, and dill flavored oak on the initial palate. Definite terrior aspects. I can tell this has some stuffing.... I'm going to wait for it.....

1 hour --
Bright Sweet red cherry coming out of the mix now, thankfully starting to hide some of that dill oak.

3 hour -
This wine is going through a gorgeous transition as the fruit is starting to break through the terrior, dill, and high acidity.
A Dark Blackberry Brandy infused Cherry, with a dill leaf on top, is what comes to mind.....
Starting to get a feel for the semi-mouth drying tannins. This bottle can definitely use a lot of age as STW is suggesting.

4 hours
Starting to get lots of blueberry on the mid-palate with mushroom undertones and "burnt toast" tannins on the finish.

5+ Hours. It's mellowed out a little bit but is still super complex, lacking some structure, is fairly tannic, and the American Oak still shows proudly. It's also very nicely extracted. Not a huge over the top bomb though (which is good) allowing many different nuances to show.

I'd agree with STW that this still has much potential, but is excellent even now. I'm just a little frightened with how oaky it is.
Rev Rates it: 91++

I just recently tried this wine. While it is very good, I didn't get the complexity or extraction that you guys did. Strong blueberry and oak flavours, but I didn't get much else. Nice mouthfeel and big tannins. Needs some time. At present, I'd rate at 89, but there is some potential to crack the 90 plateau.

jb

Why is there not more of this wine? Concentrated, thick, rich, lush, and very age worthy, at this kind of price, the wine puts those $100+ California Cult wines to shame.

The "stuffing" has developed for this wine, and I'd definitely consider it a drink now. Opened up quickly into what "hour 3" from above said... Very smooth wine, easy going on the palate with no alcohol or acidic burn, and nicely complex with a lot of blue and black fruit. The oak is heavy handed... as this is a very minty wine with hints of fresh dill, though still is very enjoyable. This didn't exactly "wow" me, but I'll thoroughly enjoy the last couple I have... and then move into the shiraz I still have. 92pts