Print this Wine         1996 Elderton Shiraz   NURIOOTPA, BAROSSA VALLEY                 January Release   Shiraz       Many consider the Barossa Valley to be the home of Shiraz in Australia and as long as Elderton continue to produce fine examples such as this 1996 release you will get very few arguments. A myth exists in the Australian wine industry that the vintage does not matter that much and this has been perpetuated by the release of ripe sweet and concentrated wines year after year. The concentration level of the fruit does vary, however, and in the better years wines with greater concentration have the added bonus of having extended aging potential. This vintage is one of the best in the Barossa in recent years. There is immense concentration on the bouquet with sweet raspberry and plum like fruit combining with an overlay of spices such as cloves and nutmeg. In addition further vanilla and coconut flavors are present due to lashings of new oak, predominantly American Oak which can be very powerful in character. In this wine the depth of fruit is more than capable of matching the oak. All of the flavors present on the nose are magnified on the palate and the wine drinks as a very voluptuous and generous mouth-filling wine. There is a bit of bitterness at the back of the palate due to the tannin extracted from the skins and to a lesser extent from the oak and this balances the sweetness of fruit and gives the wine a great deal of length at the finish. While the fruit is vibrant and fresh the wine can be enjoyed this year, however put aside a few bottles in a cool cellar for about 10 years and the wine will build in character and soften at the finish. There is certainly enough fruit concentration to last this length of time. Serve the wine with simple hearty roasts and let the ripe spicy fruit provide all the flavor to support the meat. Beef and lamb roasts would he equally effective with this fine Barossa red.

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