Rockford basket press Shiraz 1996 (review)
94 points.
Barossa Valley, South Australia. 14.5%
A real treat. Serious Barossa shiraz, from a great vintage, aged for 9 years.
Still quite dark this wine is showing wonderful leather complexity and yet probably has another 5-10 years development in it. Fabulous fruit driven wine, honest, made in the vineyard, soft but not creamy. Savoury, though with nice mid palate fruit sweetness, big wine but not a super opulent chocolate milkshake style.
The back label says it will put a smile on the face of all who drink it, but the biggest smiles will be those who cellar it for 10 years. Truth in advertising.
Suggests that the quality 98's (another great vintage) should be kept for at least another 2 years.
posted by Byron Sharp @ 12:41 PM
2 Comments:
The star wine of the evening of the three wines. I would probably rate it a point or 2 higher, just because it was so much fun to drink. This wine is much more enjoyable to me than the Grant Burge, Peter Lehman, Yalumba, and other well-know stars of the Barossa's top wines. The fruit flavours were of the raspberry and blueberry end, not the plum or cooked type. The tannins are very much there, but velvet is the word that comes to mind. You could wait a few more years for more secondary flavours, but I like the remaining frutiness and still strong tannins.
Thinking of opening a '96 Basket Press Shiraz tonight. Do you have any recent notes on this wine?
Neil C.
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