Friday, January 8, 2021

Sami-Odi Shiraz

 I assume 'Odi' does not relate to odd, but it could. The two unusual features are the shape of the bottle, a bit like an old Roman wine vessel,



and the fact that this wine is a blend of three vintages, a bit like what is being done in Champagne. I reviewed the Sami-Odi The Little Wine #4 a while ago, but it is worth another review.

The fruit comes from the highly regarded Hoffmann vineyard in the Northern Barossa, where ironstone soil reigns supreme, and the temperatures are high. The two main vintage components come from 2013 and 2014. There is no surprise this is a full-bodied wine then. However, it is surprising that this wine is quite elegant while delivering a big mouthfeel. Blackberry, ripe plum, and black olive produce an intense core, but there is enough drive to make this wine delicious to drink. This wine has a smooth and long finish, backed by dry tannins, with the slightest hint of alcohol.

I must say I am not a big fan of this three year blending, given that the Hoffmann vineyard is very special and can deliver terroir and vintage specific results. Having said this, Sami-Odi produces a single vineyard wine from Hoffmann as well.

I drank this wine some time ago, but now, after 6-7 years it is more rounded and integrated. This is a modern take on a ripe Barossa wine, which I can recommend whole-heartedly.

Anyone had any experience with this producer? 

Score: 94/+++

 

2 comments:

kr1 said...

Absolutely Thomas, been buying every vintage going back to Little wine 2 and it never ever fails to surprise. The vintage wines are even better but i restrict my purchases to 2 bottles of that a year in addition to 4 of the little wine.
Needless to say this wine changes over the course of several nights and is beautiful drinking. There is a certain juiciness to Fraser's wines, with great precision and length standouts for me. Another winery that has done multi vintage blends is Diesen but not with this regularity or focus on shiraz alone.
This year's mailing list callout came out today for Sami Odi and I had zero hesitation in ordering the next batch.

Anonymous said...

Likewise I'm a big fan. Have enjoyed several vintages of the little wine (haven’t yet tried the Hoffmann Dallwitz). Very approachable, LW #8 in particular I thought had some secondary characteristics from day one - perhaps the multi vintage effect (or the placebo effect)? I was therefore interested to read how well a prior vintage had aged for 6-7 years.

I've just put this years order from in as well. A couple of bottle of the Hoffmann Dallwitz seem to have found their way into my order this year…

Love the blog,
David