2005 Yangarra Estate Grenache Old Vine

Type Red
Producer Yangarra Estate
Variety Grenache
Designation Old Vine
Country Australia
Region South Australia
SubRegion Fleurieu
Appellation McLaren Vale
Price $25.98



The Big Wooden Guy is not pleased. You don't turn Grenache into Aussie fruit-bomb Shiraz, even if you are from down under. How the heck did this get a 90+ rating?

Night One

The nose opens with some jammy dark fruit, mostly elderberry, with black pepper, earth and brambles. It also has an underlying lingering licorice aroma.

The palate is very true to the nose. The wine opens with jammy dark elderberry and black pepper. It has earth and brambles, giving it underlying depth and keeping it from qualifying as a "fruit bomb." Licorice is more pronounced on the palate than the nose. A bit of dried orange peel appears on the mid-palate. The finish is mid-length and trends away from the fruit and toward black pepper and orange peel.

Night Two

The nose is less complex than on Night One, opening with black fruit and black pepper, and not much else.

The palate, too, is less complex. It is mostly jammy fruit bomb sprinkled with some black pepper. A bit of coffee makes a quick appearance, and equally quick disappearance, on the mid-palate, then the finish reverts to big fruit plus vanilla. Tannins are slightly grainy.

This wine got great reviews from the commercial magazines, 90+. I don't get it. This is Grenache turned into Aussie Shiraz fruit bomb.





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Forefathers McLaren Vale Shiraz 2004

Australia
McLaren Vale
14.4% alcohol

From the bottle notes:

Forefathers is a collection of single vineyard, single varietal wines produced in the most renown appellations of the New Wrold. The exceptional combination of exposure, soil and climate in these apellations stamp their signature on the classic varietals. In turn, these new World appellations have become the "forefather" or new benchmark for these wines.

In your hand is a wine created by winemaker Nick Goldschmidt from shiraz grapes grown on a prime 15-acre vineyard on Coppermine Road in the McLaren Vale. This wine is rich with notes of plum, spice and sweet vanilla.

This was a dark shiny new purple, just what you would expect from a new shiraz.

It is from Australia. Between that and the bottle notes of "plum, spice and sweet vanilla" I expect an oaky fruit-bomb. That is not, however, what shows up first on the nose. The first whiff is barnyard and earth, more Rhone than Australia. Plums, blackberries and pepper follow, but this does not scream "AUSTRALIA!!!," at least not on the nose. On the palate, a bit more so, though not completely spoofulated. Blackberry and vanilla are there for sure, but there is also spice and cedar and, to my surprise, some tobacco. On night one, this was a fairly well balanced wine.

SECOND NIGHT

Cedar and spice, then vanilla and blueberries, are the second-night nose. Plums, spice, and a touch of tobacco open the palate and is then sweetened by brown sugar and vanilla on the midpalate, followed by blackberries and vanilla. The feel is rich, mouth-filling.vvThe finish is long, the tanins smooth and sweet.

This is good wine. It is not great wine, for it lacks any delicacy, but it is certainly good, well balanced, and quite reasonably priced at about $20. I have about half a glass left. Perhaps we can see how it fares on night three.

Nope, I need to pull back on this one a bit. By the time I was halfway through a glass it had become cloying, all brown sugar and vanilla. I was fooled up front, but as the glass went on it just seemed to get sweeter and sweeter.