2002 Barossa Valley Estate Shiraz E & E Black Pepper- Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (7/17/2011)
Everything I do not like about Australian Shiraz. This wine was stewed, jammy, and flabby. One of the bottles I bought when I first seriously got into wine. I bought for the points at the time. This bottle proves buying based on points is a mistake. Seriously this wine seemed to have the components to be delicious, but it is as if the wine maker decided to reduce each bottle on a Bunsen burner before releasing. I actually cannot think of a wine I have ever had that has been this stewed. (85 pts.)
a lot of these WA highly-rated Aussie Shirazs fell apart–for example, the 94 E&E Black Pepper was a delight in its infancy, as were the 94 Clarendon Hills wines–all of which became gloopy messes a couple years later when “enjoyed” during the recommended drinking windows.
alan
Yep. It’s really a crapshoot because some of those wines actually do hold on and even improve with time, while others just fall apart. Marquis Phillips S2 for example, was undrinkable when released but I recently had a 2002 and contrary to my expectations, it was much better. Yes it’s a “big” wine and if you don’t like that style ever that’s different. But I don’t mind the style up to a point and I’d never have guessed that that wine would go anywhere but downhill fast. Then others that you’d expect more from just crap out really fast.
Too bad about the E & E. But maybe it was actually cooked? I always kind of like that wine, at least on release.