Greenock Creek 1999 Creek Block Shiraz Nov 04

The first time I have tried this wine so I did not know what to expect. Despite a half an hour in the decanter, the wine showed some unattractive stinky reductive characters which dominated what would have been very attractive blackberry fruit, iodine and liquorice. On the palate, the reductive character is shows as a massive amount of highly pongy chocolate poo which overshadows and dominates some good quality fruit. Tannins are smooth, almost powdery and chewy and well matched to the fruit. Try again in two years. Rated as Sh*t! Time to open another bottle of something else.

After twenty minutes in the glass, the pong is revolting, poo baby nappies have nothing on this stench! After another twenty minutes the stench is receding but by then I had already opened another bottle as I had given up on this one. The cork is back in the bottle and it will be revisited tomorrow night.

Night two and most of the stink has dissipated but initially I was still not sure this wine didn't have a problem. However, after 20 minutes of heavy swirling, it came good. Attractive mushroom, blackberry and chocolate dominate the bouquet and the palate has a solid core of chocolate running right through it. Its rich and moorish with great fruit purity and an excellent clean, long finish. No sharp edges, this muscular wine is wonderfully harmonious and almost silky. Rated as Excellent, it was bloody hard work to get this wine to show its stuff.