2001 Wendouree Shiraz- Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley (5/25/2016)
Written in June 2020 while on house confinement due to COVID-19 and cleaning up CT data, so this is from memory. This was the bottle that I bought at auction and shared with Salil and Josh that let us know that this was the gem that it was known to be by the very few members of the Wendouree cult. Very hard, virtually impossible, to find in the US. I got two bottles at auction after a friend was unable to find any in Australia. Dark, brooding fruit and a roasted meat presentation with incredible breadth and depth of complexity. A melange of assorted mixed pepper and spices. No individual flavor predominates, which is remarkable. Not like any other Australian wine I have ever had, and I like Aussie fruit bombs. Extreme balance and not yet at its peak. This justified trying to corner the market, which we did in June 2016 when we bought every bottle for sale in Europe that we could find and shared it among our group. (95 pts.)
I am lucky to receive 6 of the Shiraz each vintage and yes they are truly great wines and for $A55 cellar door a veritable bargain. I do think that the Shiraz Mataro and Shiraz Malbec are often as good and much easier to come by.
We always used to joke that one never drank a Wendouree that was ready, but since about 1995 the style changed a bit and they can be enjoyed on the younger side. Recent '12 Shiraz Mataro was really good.
I am trying to learn better manners while on Covid house arrest, so I will refrain from asking you whether you know what [G]FY stands for in American English. I have a client who lives in Australia for 4-6 months every year with her husband and she couldn’t even get any for me.
East End Cellars in Adelaide generally have a number of vintages on hand, also heaps goes through Langtons weekly, MW Wines and Oddbins monthly. Very easy to find, auction is cheapest. You can often pick up the blends for not much above release prices at langtons, which I use regularly. Product Listing | Langton's Fine Wines
When I was in wine biz, we used to use DHL and it worked out about $A150/doz, but it is a bit of a PITA, hence some companies shy away from it. Also the US can be more difficult than most other countries.
That’s about what I remember from the older days. Last mile was delivered by the US Postal Service. I forget the name of the internet retailer I bought from
$A150 (just over $100 US) is a lot less than what I was quoted. In December 2017, they quoted me $270 US for the relatively small number of bottles they had available at the time. If I can put together a complete case for that price, it’s not so bad.
Another good Aussie auction option is MW Wines in Melbourne. If you email Anthony Caputi (Auctiobn Manager) he would know about shipping to USA.
They have lots of Wendouree for auction each month, as Kent says if you go for the Shiraz/Mataro or Shiraz/Malbec prices are very reasonable. I really like the straight Cab Sav as well.
Out of interest, why is there such good volume at auction? If there isn’t a large premium / arbitrage between mailing list and auction, why would there be so many flippers? Conversely, if those on the mailing list are the hardcore enthusiasts, how do the bottles get to auction? FWIW, with age I think this is the best, most interesting Shiraz from Australia, beating out all the Penfolds, Henschke and more recent upstarts. Because the wine actually has character.
Just looking at those prices Rauno, they have crept up in the last 12 months, but I suspect collectors were happy to make small margins on the blend to fund Shiraz and Cab Malbec purchases. Also if you are long standing customers you can buy around 5 doz pa so there may be a bit of spare volume to flip. Don’t know whether it’s a red crayon purchaser or other that gets the access to multiple cases but there is a code.