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2002 Marius Single Vineyard Shiraz

I am excited about this wine!  The particular savoury, white pepper  characters of the Marius vineyard maintain the character and continuity of this single vineyard wine but this is something special!

2002 was a difficult, low-yielding vintage in the vineyard but it has produced an absolute gem.  We hand-picked the fruit during the first week of April at a tad over 2 tonnes per acre.

Grape variety: 100% Shiraz

Region: 100% McLaren Vale, South Australia

Oak Maturation:  19 months in 50% French and 50% American oak, about 50% new and 50% second-use.

Production:  491 cases

Closure:  The wine was bottled in the ratio of 60% Stelvin and 40% cork (the best ref. 1)

Colour:  I always have trouble with this - dark and brooding and beautiful!

Bouquet:  This is a beauty; ripe blackberry with that characteristic white pepper, sweet plums with violets and more ripe blackberries.

Palate:  All those characters on the nose come through, together with a layer of sweet plums, followed by liquorice and chocolate and leather but the overriding impression is of a wonderful texture and mouth feel followed by that lovely, lingering, drying tannin/ripe blackberry sucking sensation at the back of your tongue. 

This wine is characterised by flavour, texture, mouth feel and a perfect balance between the fruit and the oak which I believe will ensure continued development of further complexity for many years.

Price:  $275 per dozen case delivered free in mainland Australia

Roger Pike