2017 Thomson Family Shiraz
TASTING NOTES
Colour: Very dark red, but translucent and a bright ruby hue
Bouquet: Slightly closed at first, this wine evolves and changes in the glass with layers of aroma including red flowers, crushed pepper berries, fennel, charcuterie, cocoa, dark cherry and blackberry to name a few.
Palate: A cornucopia of fresh fruits with a seam of mouth-watering spice and fine grained tannins knitting the wine together. The flavours persist for an age.
Cellaring: This wine needs time to reveal its true character, 5 – 30yrs+.
Pairing: Try it with aged ribeye from a good butcher seared to your liking and accompanied with Dijon mustard. Ideal to drink with a gamy meat dish and all the trimmings.
Vintage: Fantastic winter rains set the vineyards up for ideal spring growing conditions that saw great flowering and fruit set. The mild summer conditions and long ripening period (with some timely small rain events) ensured that the fruit matured in near perfect conditions for harvest. A vintage that has more resemblance to those of the 80s and 90s than the vintages of this century.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Region: Great Western, Victoria
Grape Variety: Shiraz
Alcohol: 13.5
Winemaker: Justin Purser
REVIEWS
James Halliday 2020 Wine Companion – Rating 99 points
Hand-picked and sorted 1868 planting, 50% crushed, 45% whole berry, 5% whole bunch. You’d stand up for royalty, and that’s this wine. To use the spit bucket is lèse-majesté. Just savour it, drop by drop, as it magically finds its way down your throat. It’s got the full rainbow of cool-grown shiraz flavours, a conjunction with a year made for it by Dionysius and, glory be, comes with a screwcap. Drink to 2067
The Real Review – Huon Hooke – March 2020
Deep purple/red, youthful and bright, the bouquet clean and fresh and loaded with dark-cherry and blackberry aromas, the palate full-bodied, round and soft-textured. The tannins are ample but very fine and seamless, belying its obvious long-term ageing potential. Rich as plush and as silk. Power delivered with elegance. Subtle hints of spice. It’s still very young and undeveloped, and promises much in the future. Drink from 2022- 2042. Rating: 96 points