2010 Kaesler Old Vine Shiraz, Barossa Valley
Some complexities. Currant, plums. Whiffs of cedar, sandalwood, vanilla. The palate is soft and long, with fresh milky acidity. It has a distinct savoury twist on the very end of the palate. ABV is 15.5%, showing quite some potential. Medium finish.
Representing a different and subtle style when compared to its bolder brothers, The Bogan and Old Bastard Shiraz, Old Vines is hand-harvested fruit very early in the morning before heating up by the sun, hence the elegance. Using a relatively short skin contact and raised in French oak( 30% new French oak and the remainder in 1 and 2-year-old French oak), it is racked only twice over two years' wood ageing. It is regularly topped with no filtration, therefore the purity and balance more than mere power.
While Old Bastard is undeniably the flagship of Kaesler; many wine connaisseurs consider Old Vines much superior to Bogan regarding stylistics and fruit quality mainly becuase Kaesler Old Vine Shiraz has been consistently produced as an elegant wine, tight in its youth, a wine that is made to age. It represents a different style of Shiraz within the Kaesler portfolio when compared to its bolder brothers, The Bogan and Old Bastard Shiraz.
James Halliday awards 2010 Vintage with 95 POints, says:
Dense purple-crimson; the grapes come from three estate vineyards, 40, 60, and 112 years old; it spent 18 months in French oak, and was neither fined nor filtered; it is a massive wine, with luscious black fruits, its tannins and oak relatively unobtrusive, something that cannot be said of the alcohol. Nonetheless, a great example of its genre.
Australian Wine Companion 2014 Edition 2013
