Australian ooze-monster wines. How are they now?

In the early 2000’s, the wine critics were heaping praise on these wines, and many of
us wine geeks responded by loading up cellars with high-scoring ones from Clarendon,
Marquis Phillips, Trevor Jones, etc.

Have they aged as well as hoped, or worse than feared, or neither? I am surprised to
see so little on auction and retailer sites, for re-sale. Thank you.

My experience is they have in large part aged quite well. I won’t go so far to say that they have become significantly complex, but certainly better integrated and less in your face.

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I fell hard for a lot of these wines way back when/then. Then I had the proverbial palate shift and thought hard about auctioning but ultimately hung in there and cellared about 200 bottles. Really glad I did as the last few have been very good to stunning. Some recent wines:

1999 Yalumba The Signature (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
Decanted for 1 hour + and ready to go. Deep dark mature fruits, mint, earth on nose. Palate is like a mature Claret in a very good year - seamless with all components in perfect balance. Have had these wines since release and are drinking at or near peak now. Glad I had the patience to cellar.

2003 Mitolo Shiraz Savitar (Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale)
Much better than anticipated. Thinking it was going to be too big but actually was a joy to drink. Big and powerful but not jammy. Luscious comes to mind. If you are in the right mood, this wine is a winner.

2002 d’Arenberg Shiraz The Dead Arm (Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale)
Popped a Pungo into the bottle and poured a glass. A little bombastic at first but after 20 minutes of air turned savory and delicious. No doubting its from a warm region - but I really like this wine. No sign of heat or alc.

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I’ve had several Clarendon Hills wines (not Astralis) from the late '90s to early 2000s in the past 5-7 years, and I have found them to have consistently improved. They’ve also calmed down. I’m not a huge fan of that style, but I’ve really enjoyed the wines with some age on them. That’s the only producer I have any significant experience with.

I had a few of these types recently (some you mention, plus others). I’d say they have actually held up, but are not interesting, and have not developed in any positive way. Pretty much exactly what you’d expect.

Interestingly I’ve had some where my experience agreed with Alan’s but other people trying the exact same wine thought they had improved substantially.

The wines do hold up. However I find only a slight improvement. I bought a lot also. I find the Two hands Ares the best of my collection. Holding Shirvington 2001 and 2002. Integrity 2001 and 2002. Astralis 2002.
Dead Arm 2001 2002 and a few others. I am going to start drinking these more often. Beef ribs, Osso buca, Pittsburg NY Strip will do it justice.

For people who own the wines, they are improving. For people who don’t, they have ‘held up’.

Not a fan of this style either, but so many of these wines were big, bold and bright right out of the gate, why would you even want them to age more? While many might mellow out, they also lose that youthful exuberance that made them great in the first place.

And as in California, there is a portion produced that do age well, usually with old school house styles that have been produced for decades.

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I had a case of '03 .375 Dead Arms I have been battling through but the heat is discernible and the wine not what I hoped it would be, kinda pruney.
Ken, what is Pittsburgh NY Strip steak. Seasoning i’m guessing, steel shavings? [cheers.gif]

Only the 2003s have fared more badly for me (some exceptions - e.g. 03 Les Amis is stunning), all my other Aussie fruit bombs have generally fared very well. People drink them far too young, but I’ve found most have continued to improve for 15yrs (albeit they often need an hour of two in a decanter to then show their best). Had a 95 Yarra Yering Underhill last week - wonderfully expressive and plenty of legs left. My 02 Dead Arms are still a bit young for me, but I’ve been drinking the 99 already and some 00. Some negative surprises though… for example, I’ve found some Octavius and Armagh haven’t lasted as long as I’d expect for the price. Generally, I find many of the ‘mid-priced’ options show the greatest improvement potential with age. My wife is loving getting through a few cases of Fox Creek’s humble 99 JSM at the moment… still only $15-20/bt!

Pittsburg style is charred outside, rare inside. The charring for me works well with these huge wines.

I think if you like that style, they have aged wonderfully. If you don’t, you won’t like them. My experience has been great. The best are slow ageing but still gaining in complexity. Great depth. The oak is integrating. I don’t own a lot but enjoy the ones I do have.

I inherited a bunch, and have found the sweeter ones to go great with big BBQ (sausages, braised short ribs etc). Seem to have held up.

Where’s Ed Assidio with a note on the '98 Wild Duck Creek Springflat Shiraz when you need him? [wink.gif]

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It was never one of the ooze monsters, I don’t think, but I’ve had several bottles of 02 Dead Arm recently, and they’re quite balanced and also youthful at this age. I think they’ll continue to improve for a number of years.

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Duck Amuck!

Many of the Grateful Palate bottles that I purchased circa '99-2003 have been V/A nail polish pruney monsters. Noon 1999, Shirvington 2001, Greenock Creek, Hares Chase. I occasionally pop one but my disappointment remains and I can barely get through one glass.

Had 1998 Noon Cabernet Saturday a week ago. Tannins have resolved, initial nose lots of coconut and blueberry. Drank very easily and continued to evolve in the glass. Since I’m only about 3 months removed from Chemo and radiation my taste buds are still recovering and my olfactory senses are in overdrive. Mouth can’t handle tannins so this was very enjoyable. Had alongside a 97 Vieux Telegraph which was nice in its own right maybe a bit more mature.
Still have Wild Witch, Duck Muck and a bunch of others. Until I can handle tannins and high acid these wines are very enjoyable right now.
Oh and still have some of the Wild Duck Creek as well. Loved this one young need to visit it old.

I had an 02 Shirvington last weekend and was surprised by how nice it was. I felt it wasn’t the fruit bomb I remember it to be when I first got some years ago. I would agree that there is still a lot of heat but overall I really enjoyed it.

Can’t say the same for the 2003. I thought that was past it’s prime and tasted bitter and flat. Poured it out after grinding thru one glass. Perhaps it was a bad bottle. I think I have a few more 02’s left but will let them sit for a bit longer.

Tasted a 2001 Torbreck Shiraz yesterday that was 99 points on release. It was not a good wine. Residual sugar, overt sweetness, and none of the complexity or nuance of the other 8 wines in the tasting.