Sunday, December 11, 2016

Marko's Vineyard Point Eight Shiraz

Perhaps the greatest advance in winemaking in the last ten years, has been the production of serious red wines which can be drunk young. A great example of this is the first vintage of the 2015 Marko's Vineyard Point Eight Shiraz. Point Eight refers to hectares. So it is a very small and handcrafted production from the Adelaide Hills. The owner is Matthew Hill Smith, the brother of Michael Hill Smith of Shaw + Smith fame. This vineyard used to supply Shaw + Smith. The Shiraz vines from this cool climate location are 24 years old.

On the nose, there is plum and pepper, but on the palate, the flavours are much more complex. Dark plum and rhubarb is accompanied by mocca and coffee, and very peppery notes. It has the feel of a cool climate Shiraz, with great harmony in the mouth, but the flavours are also quite intense and deep. The pepper carries through to the long, smooth finish. This is a very well made wine straddling sun-kissed Australian Shiraz with freshness and elegance. Seek it out!

Score: 94/+++  

1 comment:

Lili said...

Nice! I love a good Australian Shiraz. I worked and lived in Melbourne many moons ago, and miss the drive-thru off-licences where I could just grab a good bottle of wine on the go!