| Friend's Birthday at Matteo's (2/10/04) - Colour: still fairly dark red, with a brick red rim. Nose: initially leathery, briary with hints of mushroom and game, it opened up later with lashings of dried berries. Palate: Smooth, rounded, concentrated sweet fruit of plums, prunes and dark berries. The abundance of fruit, which is a little unexpected for a 35 year old shiraz, is superbly complimented with fully developed aged secondary flavours of licorice, chocolate, Chesterfield leather lounge suite and earthy, spicy undertones of dried herbs, cloves and aniseed. Silky fine but still firm tannins nicely balances the fruit. This is a fantastic bottle of a Grange from a lesser vintage, and in my humble opinion, puts some other more fancied vintages to shame. Certainly, the bottle was in superb condition, with the ullage level still in the bottle neck. The provenance was such that there was a robust bidding war to acquire this very well cellared bottle. It was well worth every dollar that my friend paid for this very fine wine from his year of birth. Thanks heaps for sharing it with us! |
