While my personal success ratio with Sparky’s '98 FCR Shiraz is in the 30% range, his '96-98 FCR Cabernets are batting in the high 90s, and then only b/c of cork taint problems. This one was a beauty—perfect cork, always a good sign from a mid-90s Aussie wine (I swear Australia received the world’s left-over corks from 1988-1998). Initially a bit hot, and a hint of beef stew on the nose, but that quickly blew off after about 10 minutes in the glass. Amazing color & depth of fruit—this has evolved from a very primal, youthful fruit bomb into a serious, nuanced cab. Served blind, I would never be able to place it as Australia—no green notes or herbaceousness, just a serious core of black fruit with hints of bacon fat and tar. Would love to put it in a blind tasting against other 95-00s from Napa & Brdx. Really, really good. This can go another 5-10 years without any problems, and the recent '96s I’ve had can go even longer, so no hurry to drink up if you are one of the few early-adopters who picked these up 10 years ago.
This sounds like a fabulous wine, Mike.
One of these days, I’d love to experience a really good Australian wine. To date, all the Aussies I’ve had were lower priced ‘value wines’, and I didn’t like any of them. I know some people whose palates I highly respect are huge fans of high level Aussies, and therefore I would love to get my hands on one eventually.
Mike, great notes and I complete agree. 96 Fox Creek Reserve has always been an awesome bottle of Cab, I wish I had kept a few of those…I fact I did, so you have inspired me to pop one in the next few weeks.
MT