Winter Creek 2002 Shiraz Sept 03

Just glass staining impenetrable dark purple in colour, initially there was some VA but it blew off with decanting and some swirling. The nose is clean and fruit driven with a rapidly and continually changing bouquet as the wine opened up but the dominant aromas were chocolate, earthy forest floor notes of dirt and mint with lashings of dark fruit.

The wine has been well made and the balance is deceptive. Initially it seemed like a bit of a fruit bomb but with a short time in the glass the subtle smooth drying tannins became more obvious so whilst they are there, the fruit does most of the talking which is exactly the way David Cross wants his wine to be. Flavour is predominantly savoury with an undercurrent of sweetness to provide interest. Plums/cherry, chocolate and subtle mint fills the mouth and hand around for longer than the average TV commercial break. It’s a full bodied wine that’s totally seductive and whilst it’s great drinking now it could improve in the short term and become totally seamless. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value this is a good buy for those that enjoy fruit intense wines that can be consumed young.

Post Script - That was where I had finished making my tasting note. After four hours the wine had progressed into the prune spectrum and the tannins seemed to have blossomed with great intensity and length. Originally this was concerning and then I remembered that David doesn’t add any tannin and it was natural grape tannins.  However most people would not notice this aspect and would still love the fruit intensity when drinking the wine young. So in summary, either drink it young or bury it in the cellar till it gets past the prune stage and goes back to the forest floor savoury spectrum characters. With the structure of the wine it needs to do a Rip Van Winkle to show its best.

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2003