How can you differentiate yourself, when you start a new premium Shiraz winemaking business? This is what Fraser McKinley did: Start with an odd and mysterious, but catchy name. Change the winemaking. The "little wine" is a blend of three vintages, a bit like what happens with Champagne. (There is also a single vineyard wine.) Change the bottle dramatically. As can be seen, it looks like a port bottle. The label prominently displays the bottle number. The rest is hard to read, but includes all legally required information. Overall volume is small, less than a 1000 cases, to guarantee scarcity. But then you have to deliver. So the source of the fruit is the Hoffmann vineyard, one of the Barossa's best vineyards, from the Northern Barossa. A good start.
My tasting of the Sami-Odi Little Wine #4 is my first exposure to these wines. It is an assemblage of 2012 (17%), 2013 (44%), 2014 (37%), and 2% unaccounted for or a rounding error?
As it turns out, this wine is a gentle giant, no mean feat, given other wines from this vineyard are anything but gentle. They tend to be massive. This wine is full-bodied, with concentrated blackberry and blueberry flavours. There is some freshness in the wine, and the tannins are silky. There is a bit of alcohol on the back palate.
This is not a sensational wine, but it is very good and individual. I would buy it again. By the way, Sami-Odi is now up to #6 with this wine.
Score: 93/++
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