[SOLD-OUT] William Downie Thousand Candles 2012

"The 2011 was wrong but the 2012 is right. It drinks as an act of redemption. We are all unforgiven in an unforgiving world but William Downie, the craftsmen behind both this wine and the controversial 2011, has placed something exquisite on the table here. It's grown on the Syme's hillside vineyard in the Yarra Valley in the mulch of yesterday's headlines; the Symes are old newspaper folk. No mention of variety on the label but mostly pinot noir and shiraz. What grows in the field stays in the wine.

I sat with this wine for two nights and a day and it never budged but it maintained the tease. I kept wondering what it was thinking. It's cherried, woody, spicy and resolutely tannic. It has the crackling energy of Sideshow Bob's hair matched, almost incongruously, to a general dry despair. Earth and grit. Gravel and half-cured meat. Smoky tannin but it doesn't feel overtly oak-influenced. Brooding pinot noir but, importantly, water-based. Acidic but deep. Unthickened and unfussed. The finish hangs all the way to the next raise of the glass. A lot about Thousand Candles irks me but this wine took a hold. It doesn't ask you to listen, but you end up wanting to. "
Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front, 2nd August 2013

---

Tyson Stelzer 96 Points!
"I liked Thousand Candle's controversial inaugural 2011 on release, I like it more today, and I like its successor more again. All the exoticism of 2011 has returned for an encore in 2012, set in a much more familiar frame of Yarra Valley pinot noir (70%), with shiraz playing a support role (25%) and again an unexpected touch of sauvignon blanc (5%). Fifty percent whole bunch lays exotic spice over a core of violet perfume, the black pepper of shiraz and pristine red cherries of pinot noir. It's beautifully textured, fine, gravelly, intricate and enduring"
Tyson Stelzer, Wine Taste Weekly Edition 130, October 2013

---

Country:

Australia

Region:

VIC- Yarra Valley

Variety:

Wine Red - Shiraz

Size:

750mL