Appellation Australia

Fast Facts: Variety: Shiraz Region: Geelong Country: Australia Winemaker: Nicholas Clark & Janet Cockbill Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 13.8% Cost: $35AUD Source: Winery Sample Winery Website: Amietta Vineyard and Winery

Of all the wines sent to me, I was probably looking forward to trying this one the most, it received a glowing review from Ralph Kyte-Powell as well as the 2002 version of the wine receiving a high score from James Halliday and some trophies. Tasted from Riedel ‘O’ Shiraz (414/30) glassware.

Tasting Note: I tried two bottles of this wine, and both showed similar characters. A slightly feral, rustic, smoky nose as well as earthy characters, spices and blackberry along with some mild French oak backing. On the palate there were green, bitter tannins and a metallic influence that disrupted the line and length of the wine.

For the second bottle, I took the remaining wine in a cleanskin half bottle to a friend who is seriously into wine and whose palate I respect, in order to get a second opinion. I told him nothing about the wine other than that I would like his to try it and to hear his opinion. His comment, without influence from me, when he called me later than night was that it seemed a very good wine that was lurking underneath an increasingly feral nose with some astringency on the palate. He also said that he could think of other tasters that would enjoy the animalistic qualities on the nose.

So by now you are probably thinking that it may have a problem with brett. I spoke to Nicholas and he mentioned that the wine was “filtered to 1 micron at bottling because Brett bugs are 2 micron X 4 microns” as well as lab tested and returned with no detection of the 4 Ethyl Phenol and 4 Ethyl Guiacol compounds that would cause a wine to show this fault. Nicholas thinks that it may be a free sulphur issue which if I had a high ability to detect would influence the palate in such a way.

Verdict: Well, you can probably tell from the review that I found it not to my liking, I could see some positives in the nose, but I found the palate to be entirely off-putting. It could be the case that there is some bottle variation happening (even though I tried two bottles) or it could be the case that this is one of those wines that splits tasters into two groups, those that love it and those that really dislike it. 82 points.