Sylvan Springs 2001 Releases Nov 03

When I tried the 2001 Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon at the Sylvan Springs winery last May whilst the wines were perfectly acceptable, I felt that they could/should have produced better wines with the vintage conditions. Now six months on I had the opportunity to try the wines again, only this time at home with a lot more time up my sleeve and under more favourable conditions. 

Sylvan Springs 2001 Shiraz shows a youthful but subdued fruit driven aroma with plums, mocha and chocolate. The wine is intensely savoury showing pure sour plums, chocolate and a hint of liquorice. Weight is ample without extraction and whilst the fruit is to the fore, the acid is youthful and ultra fine grained tannins balanced but unobtrusive. All in all a clean well constructed and balanced wine with a good mouth feel and excellent intensity of finish. It certainly is showing much better now than it did in May and is rated as Recommended with **** for value. This is a wine well worth buying at under $20.

Sylvan Springs 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon shows subtle but varietally correct McLaren Vale Cabernet characters with obvious French oak notes. Savoury and sweet fruits roll around the mouth together with some tomato leaf characters and a healthy dose of chocolate and a touch of aniseed; complexity of flavour is very enjoyable. The wine is ample in weight, well balanced and once again the purity of the fruit and clean wine making shows through. It will need a few years to show its best but once again it is showing improvement since last May. It’s also rated as Recommended with **** for value and is a very good value at under $20.

The wines are available direct from the winery. Click here for details.