Bleasdale The Powder Monkey Single Vineyard Shiraz 2018
- 94
- $79
- Drink by: 2021-2036
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This wine is a tribute to Frank Potts, the founder of the Bleasdale estate, which is still in family hands. A powder monkey was the nickname for the younger boys, employed on British Royal Naval vessels to deliver gunpowder from the magazines to the cannons during battle. In 1824, aged just nine years of age, Frank Potts was a powder monkey.
The wine comes from the very best shiraz vineyard owned by the family, located behind the cellars for those who have visited the winery. The wine is made from destemmed grapes which go into open fermenters. There is 15% whole berry and 5-10% whole bunch for complexity. The wine comes from careful barrel selection.
Dark maroon with a tight, concentrated nose. While there are some red berry notes, redcurrants in particular, black fruits dominate. Dry herbs, bay leaf, aniseed, beef stock, chocolate and blackberries intertwine. This is still very young. There is very good length, impressive intensity and balance, right through to firm, slightly grainy tannins. This is good now, but expect it to really step up over the next ten to fifteen years. Drink their Reserve and/or Generations over the next few years, so this can show at its best.
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.
