TN: 1998 Fox Creek JSM

WINE TALK
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Friday is roast beast (or steak) night chez nous so I pulled one of these out.

IIRC the ‘JSM’ has zilch to do with the blend, it is the initials of James Stanley Malpas - see The Story behind the wine - Fox Creek JSM 2014 - James Stanley Malpas 1873 - 1937 — Steemit

It is a syrah cab sauv cab franc blend that varies each vintage (this one is labelled as shiraz cab franc) and it has the stuffing to age well in decent vintages and 1998 was a notably good vintage. The wine is still a very dark purple and shows some nice development in the nose with sweet fruit and some cocoa, and the tannins are now resolved so that it drinks smoothly and shows some secondary/tertiary flavours. Lengthy finish. Very glad I waited 24 years on this one.

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Great deal many years ago at a local wine shop they had the JSM wines in the closeout bins for $5 a bottle. The 98 Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz still is top five Shiraz wines of all time.

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Yes, those were the days!

I’m down to only 8 bb of the 98 Fox Creek Reserve and it still drinks very well. The 96 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz still drinks well too.

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Before Sarah and Sparky went to the dark side.

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That’s right - I’d forgotten that they got their start there. Wonder if Parker Points made them loosen their moral compass a few degrees (well, more than a few, I guess).

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I liked their Velvet Glove but Carnival of Love and their other wines never were up to the quality level of the Fox Creek wines.

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On 11th of November I had Shiraz Reserve 1998.
More than outstanding, I rated 96/100.
As now my WOTY.
Tasting note you can find on www.cellartracker.com

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Had the fox up against the 98 mighty Grange and thought it showed better that night.

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