Chateau Tanunda 100-Year-Old Barossa Vines Shiraz 2018
- 90
- $160
- Drink by: 2021-2036
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There are only three Barossa Valley producers blessed with Centenarian Vines, those equal or greater than 100 years of age. Henschke and Yalumba are among the fortunate trio to possess Centenarians. So, too, is Chateau Tanunda.
The dry, warm conditions of 2018 produced one super-rich shiraz, lending considerable power and concentration to this old vine wine which weighs in at nearly 15% in alcohol. The high alcohol is noted – the wine is a touch hot – but it is not a liability.
A host of complex aromas await – fruit cake, allspice, anise, black fruits, interwoven between camphor oak. If old vines make a statement, it is that they are beyond trends and fashion. They go their own way. This shiraz chooses a dense, viscous, no holds barred approach. An amalgam of dark fruits, Christmas cake spices, aniseed with cocoa powdery textural tannins, this shiraz can’t escape the impact that comes with 24 months maturation time in oak barrels. Oak has made its mark, adding an obvious richness.
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
