Single Vineyard Tatachilla McLaren Vale Shiraz 2007
$30; 15% alcohol; cork ; 93+++ points
This mindblowing fruit came from the California Road vineyard of Dudley Brown and Karen Wotherspoon, near Tatachilla. It is seamless, luxurious, smugly sensuous McLaren Vale shiraz at its thickly-perfumed, slick-and-silky best. Fresh blackberry and mulberry tart, mint, musk, confectioner's sugar and old cedar spice box all twist teasingly through its bouquet. Maybe a rememberance of white pepper. The palate's fudgy at first, then syrupy, then slides out into a long acidulous taper. Its tannins are velvety and persistent. It teases without moving. But it WILL move. I want to drink this immediately, but that's frustrating because I keep thinking of how much more fun it will become. Slow, dimly lit fun. Friggin gorgeous wine: the work of the emergent James Hook. Each wine he releases has this amazing quiet confidence about it. Get on his list! If he'd held this back another year it would have emerged a full point higher.
Tasted; 24-27 APR 09
Campbell Mattinson on Lazy Ballerina
Sellicks Hill Single Vineyard Shiraz.
James Hook always managers to get a lot of grunty, ripe, driving tannin into his wine and he’s done it again here. This wine is an addition to the Lazy Ballerina range - Sellicks Hill is at the southern end of the McLaren Vale wine region and this vineyard is grown in thin, red loam soils. If it wasn’t for the tannin I might have some doubts about this wine. It has a dip of flavour in the mid-palate, but those big, rich, flavoursome tannins power through the finish, all velvety and complete. it otherwise tastes of coffeed, malty oak and rich blackberry, with a loamy, sandy, earthen character - almost leathery - lingering in the background. Impeccable work here once again by Mr Hook. If you enjoy McLaren Vale shiraz, this is a lovely version of it.
James Hook, Vales viti guru, sure knows how to viogniate a red. He grows shiraz so sinister it'll suck all the light out of a room, and adds 'a few buckets' of tannic, cool climate viognier, so we get this black dancer that smells like it's been kissed by Nicole Kidman. Stack up your hamper at Smelly Cheese and a good baguettier, buy this at the new Lazy-B tasting room on the big bend opposite Kuitpo forest, take your beloved to the picnic ground, and let this willowy wickedness prance across your palate in the trees. The best Shiraz-vio of the year.
Gary Walsh on Shiraz 2007
Yes. I just rifled through the Top Drawer of Destiny and offer the following directors cut.
Almost a ripasso style with good line and mouth coating tannin. Chocolate, dark fruits and vanilla. A touch warm but well within bounds. Bloody long and chocolaty. Very yum - some liquorice on exit. Big wine but largely fruit driven.
Lazy Ballerina shiraz hasn't skipped a beat since it burst onto the scene with the 2004 vintage. It was almost a lark for owner/winemaker/viticulturist James Hook back then but it's become far more serious now that he's moved into his own winemaking digs. This bloke is a star in the making - if he's not already.
Two things: this weighs in at 15.5% alcohol but it barely shows it. And anyway, it's just a bloody brilliant wine. James Hook has 100% done it again. This has structure and weight, length and mouthfeel. It's syrupy smooth and rich and carries its lake of tannin with ease. It's gorgeous now, all melted chocolate, tar and dense dark blackberries, its gently vanillin aftertaste perfectly pitched. Forget the price, this is top shelf. Oh, and it will be good in ten years time too. Back up the truck.
