Vasse Felix Shiraz 2004

I remember having this wine at a tasting a few years ago and really liking it. I just opened the 2004 to have with roast beef.

I love how expressive this wine is on the nose -- not at all like the Voyager Estate Shiraz we had a little while ago. Deep black berry fruits mingle alongside herbal edges and toasty, cedary oak. It's a big nose, but not over the top or clumsy. On the palate, there's a bit of tingly fruit sweetness that livens an otherwise dark flavour profile, with more black fruits and a lot of oak. The wine's mouthfeel is thick and chunky, but not clumsy due to its rather sophisticated slipperiness. Very fine tannins provide a drying finish that could do with a few years to mellow out a bit.

For my taste, the wine's showing too much oak at present. But this wine isn't a quaffing wine and one has to accept that, in its youth, it may not drink easily. A lovely full-bodied red wine to sip and think about.