Majella Coonawarra Shiraz 2001 (review)

79 points

From Coonawarra South Australia 13.5%

Coonawarra shiraz is often overlooked with cabernet getting all the attention. And yet there are a number of top shiraz from Coonawarra. Len Evans & James Halliday's old book talks about how the shiraz is (was ?) more like claret and the cabernet like burgundy. While today the cabernet certainly isn't like burgundy the shiraz can make a wide variety of styles including some elegant claret-like cool climate shiraz.

In 2001 Majella produced a multi trophy winning cabernet.

This shiraz is surprisingly bland. Weakly flavoured cool climate shiraz. Some blackberry flavours, mostly up front with a flat mid palate and limey flavours on the finish. Presumably this explains why it is still on the shelves while their cabernet sold out long ago.