GINI Wine Tasting

VW: After the last shiraz, I just wanted to have another mature Australian wine and what a surprise this one brought. Complex on the nose, sweet dark berry, subtle vanilla oak, some tobacco ash… when you find complexity on nose, you know you are in for something special. Big, full and smooth palate saturated with dark fruits. [...]

VW: Recent vintages of Two Hands single vineyard bottlings have been somewhat disappointing because of their sweet, candied taste. I was quite impressed by this 2001 Sophie’s Garden Shiraz a few years back and now wonder if the older vintages were really better… or just my palate have changed. Showing leather, plum, vanilla oak nose, [...]

AC: Drank this about 3 weeks ago but don’t remember how exactly it taste like. But I do remembered it as something similar to the Elderton’s and certainly gives me a good reason in paying more attention to the great Australian Shiraz again. 90 VW: Same as AC, I don’t quite remember any specifics but [...]

AC: I’ve bought this wine long ago but never has that WANT to go drink it… probably because I think most Australian Shiraz are overrated, and that this wine is not that expensive ($24.95 for 2006 vintage) and can always be found in LCBO. Finally yesterday at dinner I decided to open this 2005 bottle, [...]

AC: I have always wanted to try a high scoring James Halliday wine and here it is, a wine that scores 95 from him. Nose of ripe fruits, you know what will be coming… quite concentrated and tasty, lots of ripe fruits in the palate. Very mouth filling and hint of burnt cedar. A fairly [...]

VW: Pure blueberry, and lots of it. Still young and powerful with many years ahead of it. Conservative use of oak. Fresh and not showing the usual jammy fruitiness in many Australian Shiraz. This is in the same level as say Elderton Command or d’Arenberg Dead Arm. Will still improve for a few years. 93+ (Nov [...]

AC: Had this wine at a friend’s BBQ. It’s a very good Shiraz from 2002. Very comparable to the few Elderton Shiraz I’ve had before. Started with a very strong nose with hint of herb, this wine’s mid palate is all about fruit and good balance. Relatively weak tanin and finish makes me think this [...]

GINI 14 wine#3 – VW: This is a strong year of Dead Arm. Dark, full bodied and highly concentrated. Lots of vanilla oak. Currently this taste like a currant liquor. High in alcohol and still quite aggressive. I am guessing this is easily 5 years away from peak. A loud wine that needs time to [...]

GINI 13 (July 14, 2007) wine# 1 – AC: Don’t think I’ve tried too many Australian Cab Sauv before. This is a special wine that I relate it to the old world style… not sweet and yet fruity enough to make you like it! Especially with the soya sauce nose, it does make you think [...]

VW: One of my aussie favorite is Elderton’s Command. It often able to deliver deep flavours with proper balance… and so is this one. Nose of new oak, abundant black fruits. Very velvet, full and plump mouthfeel. Dense, with palate coating flavours… like melting milk chocolate. Resolved tannins that showed rather smooth at this point. [...]