Thornclarke shotfire ridge shiraz 2004?

Anyone familiar with this one?

Last week I had a 2001 Craneford Shiraz which was incredible - can't find Craneford in any vintage around here.

The local monopoly is going to carry the 2004 Shotfire Ridge starting this weekend so I think I will try it out.

Any experiences good/bad on it? Any idea how long I should expect to cellar a couple extra bottles that I won't consume immediately? The winery seems to suggest that it will benefit from extended cellaring but I think I read one review that suggested 2005 to 2009.

-Aamer

Brilliant wine with high ratings in the press. I have it on the winelist at all the Grills and it is a good handsell. Drink now or cellar a few years but not too long!

I haven't tasted the '04, but as Bob says, it's gotten good reviews, as have every vintage of this wine. Parker loves the stuff to death. I don't love it, but I think it is an excellent value at $20.

Anyone familiar with this one?

The local monopoly is going to carry the 2004 Shotfire Ridge starting this weekend so I think I will try it out.

Any experiences good/bad on it? Any idea how long I should expect to cellar a couple extra bottles that I won't consume immediately? The winery seems to suggest that it will benefit from extended cellaring but I think I read one review that suggested 2005 to 2009.

-Aamer

Hi Aamer,
I had this last May and thought it very very good with fantastic cellaring potential but drinkable already if you are into big, young styles. Some of my wine friends would drink this right away, though of course it will benefit from cellaring if you like a more developed style, or just want to taste the changes that come with cellaring. Here's my note.

Thorn Clarke Shotfire Ridge Shiraz 2004 - Barossa Valley
Dense, inky black-red with purple hues. Mocha and spicy oak on the nose and mocha, dark chocolate, boysenberry, cherry and peppery spices in the palate with vanillin oak and thick, juicy tannins. Intense and concentrated and although young, it is incredibly supple. 14% alc. Cork closure.

Cheers,
Sue

I last tried this wine back in the 2002 vintage. I thought it was quite good, but decided it needed some time in the cellar to make it a bit more manageable.

-- Clark

How can a newbie like me figure out how long to cellar a wine like this?

A rule of thumb perhaps? Shiraz = Peak after 5 years and drinkable until 10?

I sure as heck don't think that I'll be able to "taste" how long the wine will develop in the cellar and how long it will be able to last based on the tannins in there.

Really wish all wines just listed this at the back of the bottle - at least the winemaker's suggestion.

For the record, I'll probably pick up 3 bottles of this. One for ths weekend and other two to consume over the next two to three years - I guess.

Opened up two bottles with dinner last night. Main course was steak.

I loved the wine, as did everyone else. Decanted for 1.5 hour which was about right I would say. Chocolate, licorice, berries.

Two bottles go into the cellar and I'll give them a try in a couple of years. I'm tempted to pick up a couple more as this was a fabulous deal, but then again I have a lot of other wines to try.

Thanks for your comments!

Brilliant wine with high ratings in the press. I have it on the winelist at all the Grills and it is a good handsell. Drink now or cellar a few years but not too long!

I've been through half a dozen of the 2002s and have to disagree about drinking it early. I think this wine will age well and long, and plan to put down a half case of the 2004s to start trying in seven years or so.

I read somewhere that Thornclarke's vision is to make wines of exceptional quality for price. I think the real quality of this wine will be hard to appreciate with early consumption.

Cheers.

You are tempting me Ian!.

Most people's opinion seems to be to drink this one early. I think Parker said drink up to 2009. Although think James Haliday says 2012. Parker's review for the 2005 vintage claims 15 years.

Maybe I'll put a bottle or two of the 2004 away as well and see how it turns out.

-Aamer

How can a newbie like me figure out how long to cellar a wine like this?

A rule of thumb perhaps? Shiraz = Peak after 5 years and drinkable until 10?

Aamer, I don't consider myself as any kind of authority on any aspect of wine, except on what I like.

Having said that and in answer to your question above, I think it is all about balance. I think there are three aspects in a wine. Fruit, acid, and tannin. I think that when a wine has all three of these in great balance they can be said to last quite a long time. when one is a little out of balance with the other two, the age ability is decreased. If two are balanced, but one is way out, then that too decreases how long I want to hold the wine.

Another caution is the area the wine comes from. The great vineyards of say Bdx, or of Burgundy, or of the Rhone, will naturally produce wines of greater age ability than lesser vineyards, so familiarity of these by the wine lover is also important. I am thinking that I have probably added to your confusion, more than clarifying anything, for which I apologize.

[Jenise]

How can a newbie like me figure out how long to cellar a wine like this?

That's why God made wine forums.

A rule of thumb perhaps? Shiraz = Peak after 5 years and drinkable until 10?

Nope. It's not the grape, it's the way the grape's turned into wine. So without knowledge of the producer's track record, which could vary as some producers make wines-for-aging as well as drink-now wines into which vintage anomalies also figure, it's kind of a wine by wine thing.
A rule of thumb you COULD employ, however, is to presume that any wine you buy is going to settle down, firm up and taste differently/better in two-three years. What my first mentor advised me to do was buy six: one to drink now, one to drink in three years, one to drink at five. The presumption was that by the fifth year, the wine would have matured enough and my palate would have become experienced enough to estimate when the remaining three bottles would be at their best. Now I understand you don't want to buy in sixes, but even with lesser quantities the plan still makes sense. Space them out: and if at any point you think, wow the wine can't get any better than this, schedule the remainder for drinking within the following 12 months. FWIW I couldn't afford to routinely buy in sixes so I didn't follow his advice down the line any more than you're going to, but also on his advice I bought half cases to taste once a year and cases of some others to drink once every six months. Watching the evolution of the same wine over time will teach you a lot about the subtle changes wine goes through with more time in bottle, and that's going to give you the confidence you seek. If you got such a great price on this wines, and since others say it's not a long-term ager, it might be a good candidate for a tasting project.

I sure as heck don't think that I'll be able to "taste" how long the wine will develop in the cellar and how long it will be able to last based on the tannins in there.

No, you can't. That takes a LOT of experience since all tannins are not created equal.

Jenise:

I very much appreciate this excellent advise. For the most part I've been trying to get twos and threes of anything I plan to age - but I'm probably better off buying half a case of a couple of wines for an aging project rather than twos of several wines.

-Aamer

I second the opinions/advice of Jenise. I would also like to reinforce the fact that without checking up on your wines every now and then, you can/will end up with a big disappointment.

Case in point with the recently posted WA Syrah Blind Tasting Notes. Several of us were completely surprised that the '99 McCrea Cuvee Orleans Syrah was already on a significant downhill slide. Based on WLDG Forum feedback, people with these wines now know to enjoy them before they reach their fifth birthday.

-- Clark

[Jenise]

Aamer, just let go of any notion that you're going to be 100% right about which wines to age, and you'll be fine. You've got us to help you identify some sure-fire agers, but what we can't do is determine whether you prefer primary fruit to secondary development or enjoy a wine best somewhere in between. The aging project(s) will help you enormously with that, and they're fun. I can't remember what wines I chose to do this with at this point, but I sure remember being impressed with (especially the ones I drank every six months) how much they changed, and how I liked every bottle better than the last until, sadly, one wasn't, and then I was on pins and needles for six months waiting to find out if the wine had peaked (something I'd read others noting but didn't have the experience to judge for myself) or I'd just had a bad bottle. And it turned out to have peaked, and it was exciting for someone like me who was new to cellaring wines to finally have the experience of recognizing that. It would have taken me many more years of dependency on other people's palates to learn what a couple cases taught me in less than five.

If anyone in your area ever puts on a vertical tasting, go out of your way to sign up for it. The opportunity to taste many different vintages of the same wine side by side will be enormously instructive.

Thus starts the cellaring project.....

The 2004 Shotfire Ridge sold out about a week after it was released up here!

I figure as and when budget allows and I find the right wines for the project I will start putting half a case a way.

I'm anxiously awaiting the 2005 Shotfire Ridge's and the 2005 Craneford Shiraz being released up here at the sinister monopoly. I recently had the 2001 of the latter and it was definately the best wine my newbie palate has ever tasted. I'll hope to make them part of my project since they are both wines I know I like.

Any thoughts on a Shiraz from Chile that you think is worth doing this project with? I've found wines from S. America to generally be a very good deal for drinking. I don't know what kind of aging potential they have.

-Aamer