The top US oak shiraz by PL.

Colour: Plum red.
Nose: Cherry and spice most prominant. Some cinamon notes intergrated with the sweeter US oak characters.
Palate: The fore palate on this wine was so powerful it took a few moments for the palate to recover. Palate feel was beautifully elegant after that intial sledge hammer though, and the tannins came through backing up the initial powerhouse of sweeter flavours. The length was quite short as was the finish, but not detrimentally.
Overall: A huge shiraz that requires a few more years yet. 93 points.

Like the Mentor (see thread) one of my favourites. MY TN from the New World Wine Experience in November:

Peter Lehmann Shiraz Stonewell 1997: Wow, my WOTS #1. Impressive. Port like liqueur nose, concentrated, thick, with all sorts of black fruit and exotic spices. Though 1997 would be considered a lesser vintage than 1996, I couldn't figure big differences to the 1996 Stonewell. Just as good and distinctively Stonewell. 94+ pts.

BTW, it's StoneWELL. Lot's of people trying to find this with search tools and Stonewall doesn't yield anything... But probably for English speakers Stonewall is the more familiar thing that springs to mind immediately.

There is a huge difference between the 95, 96 and 97.

The 95 (and earlier) has loads of American Oak, was a huge wine with an old fashioned feel to it that took years to peak.

The 96 used a French Oak component, the wine has far finer tannins, was ready to drink on release, was technicially perfect and almost elegant by comparison to the 95.

The 97 has a great mouth feel with smooth tannins but the fruit is much bigger and more obvious than the 96 and a bit jammy.

Just a few that comes to mind off the top of my head.

Torb,
YOu know how to make a man jealous.

Sorry Phlox,
You're right. Dopy head yesterday- read Redbank Shiraz thread- it might make you laugh- or not.

Jeremy,

You are talking about what USED to be one of my favourite Barossa reds that I no longer purchase, so I know exactly what the changes are all about bacuse I am still dissapointed with the changes and wish they would go back to the testicle tearer and not the "refined" stuff.

LOL!

testicle tearer- orrr errrr.