Phillip White 93++ points!
Wine Advocate 95 points!
Wine Advocate 95 points!The 2005 Apricot Block Shiraz received the same upbringing as the Alice’s and is a similar glass-coating, opaque purple. An enticing perfume of cedar, scorched earth, pepper, violets, bacon, and blueberry leaps from the glass. A bit more restrained (a mere 15.0% alcohol) than its siblings, it is nevertheless a silky, layered, intensely flavored Shiraz with gobs of fruit and a 60-second finish. It should provide much pleasure from 2012 to 2025.
Jay Miller, Wine Advocate # 181, Feb 2009 Drink: 2012 - 2025
Phillip White 93++ points!“ The fleshy white stone fruits are here again: apricot and peach. But this year they’re in a thick swim with chocolate crème caramel with a flaming brandied crepes suzette sizzling alongside. (So far, these are reds for hard-core dessert maniacs.) The aroma shows astouding balance and poise, given that extreme alcohol, so, once again, one should best regard it as a freakish dry liqueur. It has a whiff of fairy floss and fired marshmallow about its bouquet, but below that deceptive prettiness simmers a whole mess of wicked dark fruit devilry. The palate’s drier than the Alice’s and therefore more ordinarily vinous, but forget ordinary. That humungous alcohol leaves a hot finish that would be better applied to a steaming chocolate dessert than anything like meat, but then, maybe a steaming hot peppered meat (marinated mammoth haunch) with chocolate-chilli sauce would counteract it sufficiently to shush down the worried suits from your insutance agency. Give ’em a slug – one bottle will deal with four of them – and be careful not o finish the bottle by yourself. This kills. Such alcohol usually indicates a wine that will be best within a year or two, but like these other releases, it ahs sufficient acidity and complexity to live for many years.
Phillip White, 1st August 2007
Country:
Australia
Region:
SA- Barossa Valley
Variety:
Wine Red - Shiraz
Size:
750mL
