Oliverhill 2004 Jimmy Section Shiraz October 05

Tasting Note

Sydney Time

Oliverhill 2004 Clarendon Shiraz October 05

The cool climate influence is obvious from the first sniff of the bouquet; it's earthy with loads of cinnamon (oak derived,) attractive violets, liquorice and cedar. A muscular-weight wine that is perfectly backed by very-smooth tannins that provide a firm but supple consistency and solid structure; the mouth feel is attractive and the wine is both well-balanced and constructed. In fact, initially it is the best of the three in this line up. Coffee, spice, (both cinnamon and a touch of pepper,) chocolate and liquorice flavours are dominated by heavily toasted oak flavours but surprisingly, the wine gets away with it and finishes with good length and persistence. Complexity is diverse and whilst the wine is approachable now, it will be better with other three or four years in the bottle. Rated as Recommended with **** for value, future vintages will be improved with a more subtle level of toasted oak.

After the tasting note had been completed, the 7/8 full bottle was put in the fridge, pulled out the next day and consumed with dinner. The oak character had receded a lot; the fruit came up and the wines flavour profile was dominated by pepper. After trying both the Shiraz offerings over extended time, although this wine was nice, the Jimmy Section was more attractive and will probably be the better wine in the long run.