Not that this will be comfort for most, but I showed this to my dad, alongside the 2016 Kraehe that sits in the top tier of Powell & Son wines (alongside a couple of the other releases). His words were things like ‘remarkable’, ‘extraordinary balance’, ‘stunning’. Ok. He’s no wine critic, but his due diligence with wine, solid interest and research, and long history drinking the stuff, plus enjoying finishing off my fancy samples, gives him some small authority. Plus he saw a few of the Powell’s wines not only this year, but last.
Psuedo-review aside, this was a striking thing to watch and enjoy in glass over a days. The vineyard is 130 years old. The Dominque Laurent barrels season the wine six months less than the Kraehe, though Laurent barrels are meant to be partly ‘magic’ for their seamless oak integration anyway. Powerful fruit character is the charge. Dream vintage. The build up in this intro comes to this… alongside Standish in full flight, this is one of the best young Barossa wines I have ever seen. Or any Barossa wine. I wanted to stay head above water on such a conversation, especially considering hype and price, but the wine drowned me anyway.
I’ll drop the chat in about the light malty character in the oak profile first, because that’s where the points go missing in this wine. To build up the wine, it’s completely seamless, rich but lively, coursing with complex, layered red and dark berry fruit character in bouquet and palate, fruit sweetness is a forte, but so is earth, brambly herbal-savouriness, an exotic spice character, the notable dusting of white pepper, the faint but shapely chew of coils of tannin, the freshness that lifts the wine and draws it long. Beauty comes despite the muscular feel of the wine, and that lifted perfume, Eden Valley flight and guile, the faint coolness and restraint, are just so damn beguiling and delicious. Amazing wine.
Rated : 97 Points
Tasted : JUL18
Alcohol : 14.5%
Price : $750
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2018 – 2035+
Powell & Son Kraehe Marananga Shiraz 2016
Posted on 07 July 2018.
The wine comes from a vineyard that holds 110-year-old vines from Marananga parish in the Barossa, which for me, if sniffing out single vineyard wines outside of Flaxman’s, my pet favourite, is the second in line usually. The site was one of Dave Powell’s first, used since the early 1990s, and often found its way into top wines from That Other Winery’s wines he worked for. Interestingly, the wine is matured in new barrel, but not just any, indeed, in those produced by Burgundy superstar Dominique Laurent – some readers would have heard of these ‘magic casks’, barrels produced uniquely for, and in some respects by, Laurent. He selects his own trees, takes the best bits of those trees, matures the wood for four and a half years, and they are decidedly thicker than most barrels. These barrels are not sold widely, but do get bought by, Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Clos Mogador, Beau Freres in Oregon and Pingus… and Powell & Son. [/private]
Slips into the glass like midnight quicksilver. Polyphonic groans. The deep, dark colour says one thing, the perfume backs it up with its strong wave of dark, ripe forest berries, espresso scents, sweet earthiness, strong lathed wood notes, mocha, liqourice and char. Sound the fog horn. The palate is thick, sumptuous, layered and intense. A dark night of near molasses-textured dark fruits, woody spice, dried fruits and nuts with flickers of salt bush and anise. Paints the palate in thick ribbons of flavour, suede tannins chime in through its length, the finish is bold, strong, gummy. Serious stuff here, though the caveat is that the wood needs time to sink in. [/private]
Rated : 95+ Points
Tasted : JUL18
Alcohol : 14.5%
Price : $750
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2022 – 2035+