Friday, May 1, 2020

Best's Bin '0' Shiraz

There are a number of things that come to my mind when Best's comes up:
- This winery has an almost perfect website address (www.bestswines.com.au), if only the 's' would not follow the 't'.
- Age plays a big role at this winery. You can still see the original concrete vats from the 19th century dug into the floor. And the original Concongella vineyard from 1866 has an amazing array of obscure grape varieties still planted there.
- In a corresponding way, their premium wines age for decades, as I discovered in a vertical tasting many, many years ago.

I was therefore not worried to open a 2006 Best's Bin '0' Shiraz. In fact, I opened two bottles, both under screw cap, and they showed astonishing bottle variation.


The first bottle tasted of very concentrated blackberry and dark plum fruit, dominated by a massive dose of black pepper. The firm tannins were also quite present. These elements destroyed the balance in my mouth and lead to a somewhat harsh finish.

The second bottle showed much riper, even overripe fruit. Would it have come from a different barrel?

This is not a bad wine, but could have been much better.

Score: 90/0



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