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

Best's Bin 0 Shiraz

The 2013 Best's Bin 0 Shiraz is a well made wine. It is very balanced, delivers a good mouthfeel, and is fresh on the palate. The fruit flavours are blackberry and eucalypt. Dry tannins lead to a firm finish. This wine will drink well for many years, as older wines have demonstrated.

The problem for me with this wine are the strong mint flavours. I do not think this is attractive in red wine. A hint of it adds complexity, but a heavy dose overwhelms everything else. Therefore the disparity in my score.

Score: 94/0  

Best's Bin 1 Shiraz

Best's of Great Western is a remarkable winery, with very old and traditional underground cellars and beautiful old vine vineyards, the home block comprising many varieties. The main game is Shiraz.

I am tasting the 2011 Best's Bin 1 Shiraz, the second (or third, depending on your point of view) label if you will. This could be challenging: a cool climate Shiraz from a cool and wet vintage. The bouquet is intense, smelling of pepper and berries. This is a peppery wine, no doubt, on a fairly light frame. But the wine is vibrant and smooth. The fruit orientated flavours are mainly red plum. The mouthfeel is a bit weak, but the structure of the wine is good, with acidity prominent.

This wine is perhaps not so satisfying on its own, but would be great with pasta and pizza dishes. It is a great winemaking effort in this tough year. Great value for money, too.

Score: 91/+++

Best's Bin O Shiraz

Best's Shiraz is known for its longevity. Its premium Shiraz produced every year is the Bin O. I was not worried about age, when I opened a 2004 Best's Bin O Shiraz. 

The colour of the wine is a lively deep purple. Red cherry and plum aromas hit the nose. This continues on the palate. However, the palate is dominated by strong peppery flavours. This sure is a cool climate Victorian Shiraz! The fruit is clean and the wine still very vibrant. However, it lacks some intensity to match the firm acidity of this wine. Having said this, the wine is still quite balanced with a lively finish.

Score: 93/+

Seppelt

The second winery I visited on my trip to Great Western was of course the historic Seppelt. It certainly has had a checkered history, but now seems settled with a range of very impressive wines centered on Victoria. I tasted three of the Shirazes.

The 2010 Chalambar Shiraz includes 60% fruit from Great Western and 40% from Bendigo. It shows pretty berry flavours with a sweet core. The wine is elegant, with savoury complexity on the back palate - an attractive package.

Score: 91/+

The 2008 Silverband Shiraz includes only Great Western fruit. The wine opens with the peppery bouquet typical for the region. The rich berry fruit is complemented by  peppery flavours all the way down the palate until the wine finishes on an acidic note.

Score: 91/++

The 2008 St. Peters Shiraz is sourced from the old vines below the winery. This wine shows interesting cherry flavours and stands out because of the depth of its fruit, as a result of the low yielding vines. The spice is more complex here and beautifully woven into the flavour profile.

Score: 94/++

Best's Wines

I took a trip to Great Western a few weeks ago and visited Best's (the website name is great, isn't it: www.bestswines.com). The winery is one of the most historic in Australia. You can visit the original cellars, including the big vat where in the early days all grapes were thrown together: red, white, everything. The picture  shows the original vines from the Concongella block. The oldest vines are over 140 years old. The fruit goes into the exclusive Thompson Family Reserve Shiraz.

I tasted two interesting wines. The 2011 Best's White Gravel Hill Shiraz is a new single vineyard bottling from their second vineyard at 'Rhymney, 13km up the road. Normally this is blended into the Bin 0 wine, but in this difficult year, the company felt it was worth bottling this separately. The wine is bright and fresh, with red fruit flavours, but what stands out is how peppery the wine is. I have maybe never tasted a wine with so much white pepper flavour. The wine clearly stands out, maybe too much (89 points).

The 2010 Best's Bin 0 Shiraz is much more traditional. The colour is darker and the wine tastes of juicy plums. There is some pepper as well, but more in the background of this balanced wine. The tannins are fine, leading to a good length finish. This is a typical example of a premium cool climate Shiraz from Great Western (93 points).    

The New Jimmy Watson Trophy Winner: Best's Bin 1, 2011

I should preface this post by saying I am not joining the mob which currently and fashionably rubbishes big South Australian Shirazes. I think these are unique wines in the world, and if not overripe, can be fascinating and complex wines. So I have no initial bias towards Victorian Shiraz. I am also concerned about cooler climate wines from 2011, which was very wet in the Eastern parts of Australia.

So when I heard that the 2011 Best's Bin 1 Shiraz, their 3rd tier wine, won the Jimmy Watson Trophy, my first reaction was that this was 'politically' motivated, a lighter wine had to win (like last year).

However, the proof is in the glass, so here it goes: This wine has a beautiful aroma of blackberry and black cherry. The fruit of this medium-bodied wine is very pure and intense and has great linearity. There are also exotic spices on the palate and silky tannins, leading to a smooth finish. On the second day, the wine had not deteriorated and still offered a rounded mouthfeel.

This wine is an outstanding expression of cool climate Victorian Shiraz. It also offers excellent value for money. Grab it while you can!

Score: 95/+++

Best's Riesling

The new 2011 Best's Great Western Riesling was the drop of choice for the pre-Christmas lunch. I was not disappointed.

This wine has a big bouquet for a Riesling. The palate shows a lot of lime fruit and is dry when cold. As the bottle warmed up, the wine became a bit more fruity. The wine has a great mouthfeel and good length. I would have liked a bit more linearity, but this is a good Riesling, and exceptional value at this price.

I suggest to drink this wine young and cold. It appears the wet 2011 vintage has been very suitable for Riesling.

Score: 93/+

Best's Bin No 1 Shiraz

The Bin 1 is Best's bread-and-butter Shiraz. The 2006 Best's Bin No 1 is surprisingly concentrated for a wine from Victoria and at this price point. The flavours are plum and black cherry and spice as well. It has firm tannins on the finish.

This wine is not overly complex or elegant, but provides satisfying drinking at four years. It has plenty of body to go another six.

Score: 92/++

What A Tasting

A few days ago, I attended a pretty amazing tasting. These were the wines I tried:

Kumeu River Chardonnay 2007

Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2006

Kumeu River Coddington Chardonnay 2006

Marchand&Burch Chardonnay 2009

Marchand&Burch Mt. Barrow Pinot Noir 2009

Marchand&Burch Shiraz 2007

Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet 2008

Te Mata Awatea Cabernet Merlot 2008

Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot 2008

Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2008

Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels The Gimblett 2007

Jasper Hill Cornella Vineyard Grenache 2008

Jasper Hill Georgia's Paddock Shiraz 2008

Jasper Hill Emily's Paddock Shiraz 2008

Jasper Hill La Pleiade 2008

Kalleske Old Vine Grenache 2008

Kalleske Eduard Shiraz 2008

Elderton Command Shiraz 2006

Huntington Estate Block 3 Cabernet 2004

Interestingly, despite good standard, the Chardonnays could not match the red wines, which showed more complexity and were simply more interesting.

Three stand-outs for me: The 2009 Marchand & Burch Mt. Barrow Pinot Noir was brilliant. The wine has great finesse, and the sour kirsch flavours carry through to a fine finish backed by silky tannins. The 2008 La Pleiade stood out because it had good fruit concentration, but was not heavy (French influence?). And finally the new 2008 Kalleske Eduard Shiraz is quite a profound wine. Maybe a bit sweet for some, but great texture and elegance, and a long finish. Having said this, I would have happily drunk any of the tasted wines, if you had brought a bottle along.

Seppelts Great Western Reserve Shiraz

I was looking forward to my last bottle of the 1998 Seppelts Great Western Reserve Shiraz. This wine is now called St. Peter's Shiraz and stems from the highly regarded St. Peter's vineyard.

The wine had excellent structure and smooth tannins and is probably drinking at its best now. The big surprise were three flavour elements being in perfect balance: the wine had the expected spice scents, but also really sweet fruit, almost Grenache-like, which I have never (!) experienced like this in a Victorian Shiraz, and finally charred-earth flavours.

A most satisfying drink. I wished I had some more.

Best's best - A vertical tasting of Bin 0 Shiraz

I love vertical tastings. As a wine collector, it is difficult to do more than a few, and mostly only over 5 vintages or so. Otherwise, there are not many opportunities to experience them. Yet they provide the best chance to evaluate a wine or winery in a day.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to participate in an extraordinary tasting of the Best's Bin 0 Shiraz over a number of decades. We tasted 1977, 85, 90, 95, 99, 04, 05 and also the 05 Thomson Family Shiraz. 

Best's is located in the Great Western region of Victoria and is an often overlooked, very historical winery. The Bin 0 Shiraz is their premium Shiraz, which takes vines from three vineyards, planted in 1866, 1966 and 1970. My overall impression was that the wines can last a long time, but are also quite variable, depending on climatic conditions. In the cooler vintages, the wines are quite peppery, but also a little thin. In the warmer vintages, the wines show a lot of mocca and dusty, crumbly chocolate, which is quite unique and apparently due to regionality.

The outstanding wines for me were 1977, 1990 and 2004. The 1977, with over 30 years old, did not show much fruit any more, but had great flavours of mocca and chocolate, and still a good texture and a long finish. In fact, I tasted more of the wine after it had gone from my mouth. Sensational. The 1990 showed blackberry and plum fruit with some overtones of mint and a smooth, elegant and creamy finish . The 2004 tasted more of mulberry and dark cherry, it has a good structure, soft tannins and good length.

These wines are often thrown into the 'cool climate Shiraz' bucket. This tasting showed there is a lot more to them. The wines mentioned above showed great complexity and elegance.