(Shiraz, dry farmed 80+ year old vines) This wine is completely sold out and one taste of this will tell you why. Offered at a lower price point than its $150 sibling, The Run Rig, this wine was a dark, rich maroon in color with lots of dark plums, blueberries and figs on the nose. Nice chewy mouthfeel and good depth. Very extracted and almost Turley-esque in that manner. Silky finish. 93 pts.

Lafon,

Do you know anything about the 2002? I am going to an Australian Shiraz tasting in April and can get two of these that I would like to bring to it. What would you expect to pay? Any help would be great. Thanks.

I know nothing of the '02, but I do know that the '01 was selling at Lafon Rochet's favorite wine store for $95 last March.

If anything the 02 Factor should be even better than the 01.

Thanks Torb - sounds excellent.

Yeah - good news. I picked up 2 bottles of the 01 last year purely based on rep and my desire to try more nice Aussies that I hadn't been exposed to yet. I got it for a steal ($40-50 - something like that) - I didn't even know what I had until I've been reading reviews recently. Any recs on drinking windows? I figured I'd let them sit for a bit - though I imagine its not mandatory with these fuit bomby type of wines...

I'm not big on Aussie Shiraz not named Grange, but the '02 Factor is pretty good stuff. Overpriced, but I would love to have some in my cellar. And I think it will age nicely for 10-12 yrs.

jb

Winoman,

These are not "fruit bombs" in the true sense although they do have lots of ripe fuit to back a well balanced structure. Whilst it can be drunk young, there is no doubt it would bewastet to do so as these wines will gain real complexity with age.

That's quite a bias JB and is surprising to me given that Grange is not exactly a value choice and you are usually more immune to the allure of icon wines than others.

I have a fair amount of high end Shiraz in my collection and I am not bothered at all by not having a single Penfolds wine in it including Grange. I would really be bothered if I did not have any Torbreck though.

Yeah - I think I sort of realized that it was (will be) a more civilized Syrah. I have really enjoyed the Rosemount Balmoral Syrah and the Penfolds RWT (both from 98) and I wanted some more exposure to well made - more balanced Syrahs from down under (they all still have pretty powerful fruit...just goes with all the sunshine and because thats what most folks want I think...) - and I was hoping to branch out a bit from the Aussie wine equivilants of Miller and Budweiser- so (last year) I picked up a number of the Torbrek and Kay Brothers wines (and some others i can't remember off the top of my head) that didn't seem as if they were overpriced for the quality. I have yet to crack one yet - but am expecting great things....and I am always open to suggestions as well...

Biased? You're probably right. I'm not big on Zinfandel either. I can appreciate both, but I don't feel a need to buy them and/or cellar them. Just not my style these days. I have culled all Austalian wine from my cellar save for 1 bottle of '01 D'Arenberg Dead Arm (given to me by the good Dr. T) and I still have one bottle of MPS2 that I will probably gift to someone at some point.

All that being said, I loved the Rockford Basket Press and yes, Grange is out of my price range, but I loved the vintages I've tried.

jb