Tasting Note

                 Sydney Time

           Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008

Bannockburn 1998 Shiraz Nov 05

The wine opened with a little bottle sink and would have been better it had decanted it in advance. Never-the-less there is some reasonable fruit there, although the barnyard type aroma is strong; and there is a surprising amount of lifted menthol. Tannins are resolving well although it still has an excellent, solid backbone; the acid is still very fresh and belies its age; the fruit is deeply seated and finishes with very good persistence. Blackberry, licorice and black pepper, it's a pretty black spectrum wine although there is nothing over ripe or pruney about it and its slightly feral nature is attractive. Complexity is fantastic as there are also blueberry flavours, menthol, a touch of eucalypt as well as chocolate. An ample-weight wine with excellent power to weight ratio; it still has many good years in front of itself. Rated as Excellent.