2004 Vasse Felix Shiraz Adams Road Margaret River Australia. 15% alcohol. Chambers Street $14.39. Importer not identified.
Deep red color, deep hue, lovely, lifting aroma of red fruit and spice that permeated our living room and kitchen, very good fruit and spice with pepper notes and just a hint of oak, restrained and very pretty, medium mouth feel, very good tannins and acids in good balance, long, complex finish. 4*. Little EGA. Improved somewhat on the second day.
Worked very well with roasted vegetables on the first day -- the warm Shiraz fruit enhanced the sweetness of the root vegetables -- and an almost perfect and unusual match with roasted trout and spinach on the second day. That light acidity lifted the trout, and the fruit married well with the spinach, the three making a dish greater than the sum of the parts.
It is very unusual to find an Australian wine on the list at Chambers Street and this entry caught my eye during a search to fill out a case. And, to find Chambers and Parker agreeing on a wine is perhaps even more unusual. I found their reasoning for adding Australian wines interesting and quote them at length below. I am intrigued with the Margaret River area itself and hope to visit some day. Even the history of the winery holds charms. $15 very well spent indeed.
Notes:
Winery: http://www.vassefelix.com.au/ "The Wine that started Margaret River."
Vasse Felix was the first commercial vineyard and winery to be established in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. The vineyard took its unusual name from an early event in the district. Vasse was a French seaman who drowned last century when his longboat overturned near the site of Busselton while exploring the coastline on the ship "Geographe" under Captain Freycinet. Paradoxically, Felix is the Latin word for fortunate or luck. Thus the name refers to a favoured place in Australia discovered by the French.
In 1965 Dr John S Gladstones emphasised the region's suitability on his report "The Climate and Soils of Southern WA in relation to Vine Growing". Two years later Dr Tom Cullity planted vines and Vasse Felix was born. The bird depicted on the label is a peregrine falcon. The native birds were an immense problem at harvest, so Dr Cullity used trained falcons to deter the silver eyes and parrots. Although much time and effort went into this exercise, it was not successful with the birds failing to return after free flying.
Winery Tasting Note: A very complex yet attractive nose of dark cherries, exotic spice and savoury earthy notes with an underlying bitter chocolate/mocha character. The aromatics are deeply concentrated with rich brambly fruits yet contained by fine white pepper, cloves and freshly milled ground spice characters. This wine shows great varietal definition with a complex array of flavours for Shiraz. The oak offers some dusty/toasty depth but is entirely secondary. The palate delivers sweet dense ripe fruit of cherries and turkish delight but well harnessed by fine tannins and some structural French oak. Long seamless wine with good mouthfeel and powdery texture. Full-bodied and powerful, this wine is designed to age over the next 8-10 years.
89 Points - Robert Parker (Wine Advocate). "A top bargain, the 2004 Shiraz Adams Road exhibits aromas of American oak interwoven with berry fruit, pepper, and spice. Supple and fleshy, with a sense of restraint that characterizes many Western Australian Shiraz cuvees, it can be drunk now and over the next 3-4 years."
Chambers Street Tasting Note: Nice peppery and juicy shiraz without any of the offensive gobbiness that typically can be found at this pricepoint from Barossa and Mclaren Vale. This is livened up by electric acidity. A very good, real wine and an excellent value.
Chambers Street on Australia Generally:
Don't pigeonhole Australia!
Australian wine is something that we at Chambers Street Wines are not that well known for. There are many reasons but the main one is probably that the wines really do not ascribe to our philosophy. There is not much natural, organic or sustainable viticulture down there and the wines, in general, seem to be in the big, extracted, sweet, overripe, oaky and concentrated style. We tend to like wines that have finesse, express terroir and can be drunk with a meal. Well, Lyle, while being inspired by Josh Raynolds latest tasting report on Australia in Stephen Tanzers International Wine Cellar, has decided to try his best at putting some great Aussie wine on the shelf here at Chambers Street Wines.
Many people are attracted to Aussie wines due to the high point scores awarded by certain critics. These wines tend to be from Mclaren Vale and/or Barossa Valley and are described with buzz words and phrases like "hedonistic" and/or "gobs of fruit." They are typically dark colored and so sweet as to be more similar to liquefied Hubba Bubba than actually liquefied grapes. Since these wines have been forced down the American consumers throat with huge scores and death-defying descriptions, many people have no idea that another voice exists in Australia. Australia is a big place and the wines from Barossa and Mclaren Vale are made in the eastern and southern parts of Australia which is but a tiny part of viticultural Australia. These regions generally are very hot and dry and that character comes through in the wines. There are of course exceptions like Victoria, on the southern coast that are generally cooler. In northern Victoria (Rutherglen) though, they make fortified wines and massive inky Shiraz that have nothing in common with the less in your face wines from places like Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula & Geelong which are distinctivily cooler. But as the old expression goes "Go west my son." Western Australia is a wonderful place for wines as the climate is much cooler. Such regions as the Margaret River, Peel, Blackwood Valley are very popular in Australia among consumers but there is a lack of exposure of these wineries here. Just look at the website Langton's which tracks the top wines in Australia. It is a different picture over there than here.
You can check availability, compare prices and order this wine from various retailers through Wine-Searcher.com.