Philip White 94+++ Points!
Philip White 94+++ Points!
"As the years wind by, the Apricot Block seems more and
more determined to offer a very feminine counterpoint to
the stoic and tough indifference that underlies the initial
chub of Alice's. In 2012 that contrast is even more overt
than usual. But it's more complex and tricky than that.
There's no pork fat in this bouquet. This is all patisserie.
Lamingtons and Paris Creek blueberry yoghurt. It's creamy
and smooth: more confection than primary fruit. Icing
sugar. Chocolate-flavoured crème caramel. The very finest
milk chocolate. But the wine's made from grapes; it's gotta
have some fruit, and with all those alcohols, you might be
forgiven for expecting jam when the berries eventually
awaken. Nope. Here you get jelly . In fact, the damn
thing smells like a well-soused trifle, but all jelly, no jam.
Blackcurrant and blueberry jelly, sponge cake, real whipped
cream and some chocolate sauce. I can even see the wellpowdered
aunt triumphantly carrying it to the table, just to
show Mum how to make a trifle and how much sherry,
even kirsch, you need to rattle a teetotal household.
After all that show, the oak kicks in with that alcohol to
tell you it's a wine you're drinking, not a cake.
Then, with a day or two of clean country air, like the other
2012s, the wine seems to tighten and stiffen. The oak
intensifies, the acid loses its rapier whip and goes brittle
and the Apricot takes on a sinister turn. It changes colour,
jumps the fence or has a sex change or something and even
starts letting off scary blacknesses, like licorice and aniseed.
Holy hell.
By this stage the drinker really starts to think there's a
decade more than first thought in these twelves. Whatever
their gender, these are all serious dungeon brutes when the
make-up wears off."
Phillip White, Sep 2014
Country:
Australia
Region:
SA- Barossa Valley
Variety:
Wine Red - Shiraz
Size:
750mL