Print this Wine         1997 Pikes Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre   POLISH HILL RIVER, CLARE VALLEY                 January Release   Grenache       This is a truly exciting addition to the Pikes range. The Clare Valley is simply a great area to grow grapes and the success Neil and Andrew Pike have had with Shiraz led them to experiment with the other varieties of the Rhone Valley usually blended with each other in the Southern Rhone. It has been a very successful experiment. Wines under the Pikes label are never shy, but this wine is so up front it almost leaps out of the glass to greet you. And its all fruit, simply an avalanche of sweet raspberries, plums, currants, cherries with an earthy mushroom like scent that can be attributed to the rustic Mourvedre variety. All these fruit flavors collide over the palate with the warming heat of the alcohol being the mixing agent. There is a hint of oak but it merely supports all the fruit characters. There is plenty of acid at the finish with a modest amount of finely grained tannin. When to drink? The fruit flavors are so real and juicy that it would be a pity not to enjoy them at their zenith. I would recommend buying several bottles and drinking about 2/3 in the near future and hold onto the remainder for say about 5 years. This fruity spicy sort of wine is best suited to game such as hare, wild boar and the like. There is ample fruit intensity to match the strong gamey character of the meat and the full flavor of the usual accompaniments and sauces.

Varietal All Varietals Bordeaux Blends Cabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay Colombard Dessert Wine Grenache Grenache Mourvedre Shiraz Grenache Rose Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre Italian Varietals Marsanne Viognier Merlot Mourvedre Mourvedre Mourvedre Shiraz Grenache Muscadelle Muscat Other Pinot Grigio Pinot Gris Pinot Noir Port Riesling Rose Saignee Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Shiraz Shiraz Grenache Mourvedre Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache Shiraz Petit Sirah Shiraz Viognier Syrah Viognier Estate All Estates Aramis Vineyards Blackbilly Bowen Estate Clonakilla Coates Craiglee Elderton Fireblock Flinders Bay Frankland Estate Grosset Wines Heathcote II Hill of Content Mount Horrocks Primo Estate / Joseph Rocky Gully Rutherglen Estates Sir Paz Estate The Catcher Wines The Jumping Grape Wines The Old Faithful The Wishing Tree Tir na N'og Region All Regions Adelaide Hills Adelaide Plains Auburn Australian Capital Territory Barossa Ranges Barossa Valley Blewitt Springs Bowen Estate Canberra District Cardinia Hills Cardinia Ranges Central Victoria Clare Valley Clarendon Coonawarra Cowra Eden Valley Fleurieu Frankland Geelong Great Western Griffith Heathcote Hilltops Region Hunter Valley Kangarilla King Valley Langhorne Creek Lenswood Lower Hunter Valley Macedon Ranges Margaret River McLaren Vale Mornington Peninsula Mount Carmel Murrenbateman New South Wales Norton Summit Nuriootpa Old Garden Vineyard Padthaway Piccadilly Polish Hill River Riverina Rutherglen Sevenhills South Australia Sunbury Tanunda Upper Beaconsfield Victoria Watervale West Australia Western Australia Woodside Yarra Valley Keyword Include Museum Notes? Yes   No Show me more wines: of this vintage of this varietal by this estate from this region