La Pleiade

La Pleiade is one of the most interesting full bodied red wines made in Australia. It is a joint venture between Ron Laughton of Jasper Hill fame and Michael Chapoutier from the Northern Rhone. The vines come from a 1998 planted vineyard in Heathcote.

Yesterday I opened a 2004 La Pleiade Shiraz. The wine tastes of black cherries, plum and blackcurrant. It has savoury flavours as well. There is great complexity on the palate. The wine is full bodied and ripe, but not too big. It has length and quite firm tannins with a drying finish.

You get what you would have expected: Australian fruit, but some restraint through a focus on the structure of the wine. It is a good wine, although the mouthfeel is a bit uneven. Maybe there is actually too much going on.

This wine is not easy to find, but well worth it. Probably only from the Jasper Hill mailing list.

Score: 93/++