Curtis Pasha McLaren Vale Shiraz 2019
- 95
- $100
- Drink by: 2024-2044
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The team notes that this wine is their homage to ‘old school’, to the glory days (which seems appropriate as, as I sit here writing up the notes, we have Springsteen in the background, but I digress). From sixty year old McLaren Vale Shiraz vines, it will make a lot of people very happy – especially if they happen to be enjoying a great steak with it. A vibrant magenta hue, this is oozing dark chocolate, mocha and cassis. Even with five years under the hood, this is still youthful and must surely be considered a twenty year proposition. As we move to the palate, the cherries come to the fore. There is good energy, excellent length and a creamy texture. The integration of the oak is near immaculate and the wine finishes with satiny tannins.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
