The World Class Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1996

WINE TALK
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" Black Shiraz is the sort of stuff I was weened on. Uniquely Australian, it’s loaded with rich, ripe fruit flavour and very fine tannin- it’s a big old fashioned red that will put a smile on the faces of those who drink it- but the biggest smiles will belong to those who are patient enough to put it away in the cellar for 10 years."

Robert O’Callaghan winemaker and taken from the back label.


This is a world class wine from my favorite Barossa Valley vintage of the 1990’s. It is in a spot at the moment and should hold for many years. You need to hunt at first for the aromas; whereas many drinkers would probably be expected to be overwhelmed by a big and brutal wine. It is far from it. Even in its full body style, there’s a mellowness and old fashioned sophistication. Bacon fat and mineral rich earth at first, before the fresher notes of blackberry- which is lighter than many modern Barossans-with licorice and ripe red fruits. Beautiful on the palate, within a big frame there is a suppleness with the spicy dark flavors and near resolved tannins. The flavor persistence is long, lingering and not shameful and showy like many modern expressions.

94pts

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Can’t tell the vintage. I’m still waiting on some of the 96.

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Looks like 1996 to me.

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They make great wine, had several vintages 5-6 years ago. I just had a problem with the price, while they aren’t in the Grange or HOG range they were $50-$60 depending on where you were at. You could have bought a lot great BDX back then for this $.
But, still a great wine that I think really shows what Shiraz is.

5

The '96 BP is a truly special wine.

I have a few cases I have been checking on slowly since release and it hasn’t really moved all that much, especially in the last few years.

This is my fave of all the BP’s (save for my small stash of perfectly cellared '86’s, which still show superbly, but will be passed by the '96 one day for sure…).

I also prefer the vineyard blend to the other releases of his '96’s (Vs say the SVS’s), although the Hoffman also looks pretty smart.

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I’m a big fan of the '99 Basket Press.

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Hi Jason,

I recall the 96 BP being under $30AUD at cellar door on release so that must have been approaching $20USD. Granted, the massive depreciation of the American dollar versus the Aussie since, but that is amazing value for a world class wine!

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Aussie dollar vs. Grateful palate markups = a world of difference.
I was trying to hand sell this but with GP markups and the high distributor markups in Seattle it was around $55 here in the states.
I understand it is a world class wine and I would have loved to purchase a couple of cases for $20 usd, but was not to be.
At the time of this release is when the Seattle market really started to take off for Aussie wines 2001-2003 and there was a ton of stuff available for less, so selling a $55 wine when a customer could buy Marquis phillips S2 for $28 was difficult. (I am not at all comparing quality, just price perception by customers)
Saying that I loved this wine on release and wish I wouldn’t have drunk the small stash I had.

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Fair enough! Amazing really, as I look at wine prices in the USA on wine searcher and am always envious of the good pricing- especially Italians!

I am not sure, but I thought I read somewhere that Rockford stopped exporting to the US a few years ago?

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I did an SVS tasting a few years ago. Here are some notes. Glassware was average.

I was fortunate to host this dinner last week for the Hong Kong Wine Society. It was held atop of one of the famous banks with unobstructed views of the so called Fragrant Harbor.

The wines were from my personal collection. Straight from Cellar Door and into professional storage. I have had Basket Press very well received with HKWS membership prior. I was just hoping tonight for a couple of open minds amongst the sterner of Old World bigots…

Anyway. It’s a wine I have always loved sentimentally as it captures a pioneering Australian spirit. And it is an easy going, food friendly Barossan.

So here goes-



Basket Press 1996-(14.5%) Was good but certainly not the best 96 I have had. Bottle variation in Basket Press problematic. Came with the raspberry red fruits and new leather. All class and with exceptional length.

92pts

SVS Flaxman Valley 1996- (14.5%) Oh this is good. I love good Eden Valley shiraz and it has generally been an exclusive Henschke forte. There is a cool restraint to the wine. Licorice, dark fruits, fine tannins and goes on for a country mile.

The Steinert family who own the vines ( other vineyard Chris Ringland ) are dairy farmers through and through. They told me they once considered getting rid of their vines to make room for more cows. Thanfully the red wine boom came along…

94pts

SVS Moorooroo 1996- ( 13.5% )I’ve read on the forums that this has been disappointing. It was quite impressive tonight. Bitumen, blackberry, malty oak. Layered with licorice strap like fruit flavors, nuances of menthol and dried herbs. The wine has well and truly peaked so is very soft finishing and easy drinking. Earth and spicy, red fruits linger.

92pts.

SVS Hoffmanns 1996- ( 14.5% ) This wine leapt from the decanter. It has some of the most concentrated blackberry notes of any shiraz according to the Rockford notes. It sure does! It’s an immense wine and behind the voluptuous, rich and ripe blackberry flavors is a second layer of pruney, dark fruits. Vintage port like in a positive sense. Loved it. A medicinal cloud drifted over as I was on my second, marking pass and I scored it down

90pts


Basket Press 1998- (14%) A bit light weight in regards to previous bottles. It had 30 minutes aeration, double decanted, time in the glass etc- but still seemed all wound up. Cherry-water, smokey, with match stick and flint notes. Seemed much lighter than the WMR below. Atypical experience for this vintage!

89pts



Basket Press Winemakers Stock Release 1998- ( 14% ) Everybody felt this a different wine despite what a personally signed letter from Robert O’Callaghan said stating the contrary! Riper, in a kirsch-chocolate spectrum. Full bodied wine, more muscular and bulked up in comparison to the above.

Someone suggested the difference could be cellaring provenance- mine being cooler than Rockfords?

91pts

SVS Flaxman Valley 1998- ( 13.5% ) A step up in firepower compared to the 96. Blackberry buzz on blackstrap like dark fruits. Choc-licorice and some nuances of spice, menthol and bracken which I note in Mt Edelstone.

92pts

Pressings 1998- ( 13.5% ) This is another monumental wine. Its balance is staggering considering it leads with rich, ripe powerful fruit notes of licorice all sorts, dark chocolate with a nice, supporting run of vanilla and anise. Pure, black shiraz! Striking stuff.

94pts


Basket Press 1999- ( 14.5% )When I decanted this wine during the afternoon, I had a sense of dread. The nose was muted and the cork smelt like it was tainted. It was fine according to one Old World bigot.

Anyway, sadly, considering the nature of the tasting I have no doubt ( as with many others in the group ) that the wine was scalped with cork taint. A rich and powerful wine absorbing a lot of it: leaving a few thinking it wasn’t.

NR


**SVS Flaxman Valley 1999-**Big, black and spicy. But with a feminine touch. Beautiful wine I didn’t get to concentrate on due proceedings.

92pts

SVS Helbig 1999- ( 15.4% ) The biggest wine of the evening but it didn’t come in overblown. The intensity got me and others in the group. Super concentrated shiraz fruit with whisps of cocoa and espresso. Gobsmackingly full of flavor but balanced at the other end with an even finish.

What a bugger to share this wine. I think I have more.

95pts

Pressings 1999- ( 14.3% ) Bit of an odd ball. Sweet blackfruits, menthol and Island spice. Long, long wine filled with intriguing herbal-spicy flavors.

91pts


Dinner wines-


Vine Vale Riesling “1886 Vines” 2009- Excitingly received by the group. Super nose, warm and tropical. Let down on the palate where the hedonism of nose not matched. Reminds me of some modern Italian dry whites coming into vogue.

88pts

Basket Press 1995 Magnum Format - This hasn’t changed in a decade. Top notch result for the vintage. Sweet, licorice, X-Mas cake like fruit with interwoven cedar-spice.

92pts

Basket Press 1997 Magnum Format- Was a good wine a few years ago so I thought the magnum would hold the wine in good stead. It’s layered on both the nose and palate. Blackfruits and undertones of prune-berries. Ready to go! Don’t hold out. Structurally I don’t think much is holding the wine up.

87pts


Someone did their homework and stated that the superb wine that is Basket Press is better as a blend than as individual sub-region wines. I don’t know. I like the BP style. But some of those SVS wines were outstanding in their own right.

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Thanks Jamie,

Yeah, was actually the Flaxman and not the Hoffmanns I really liked in the '96 SVS (much fined structured), so that tallies, although I have always placed the Moorooroo as the least of the three…

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Cracked what May have been my last ‘96 BP Shiraz tonight. This wine is ageless. It has loose some of its youthful fat, but it’s a penetrating wine that shows what these folks are capable of. No rush to consume, if I can find any more

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