Kaesler Old Bastard Shiraz 2005
Kaesler
Colour: Arterial blood.
Nose: Once opened, and when it's young, exhibits soy sauce, vegemite, mandarin rind and flowers. After a few hours with
air, and more suggestive of its future, it leans slowly towards dark chocolate embedded with black ripe yet still sour cherries. After 5 hours or more, small berried fruit, black and red start streaming though, vanilla lift adds a nice topping and ethereal afterglow.
Palate: Intensely ferrous and austere upon opening but this trait will become complex over time. The savoury qualities, pronounced by this vineyard persist until about 4 hours into the bottle.
Wine Advocate
As good as the preceding wines may be, they pale in the shadow of the 2005 Shiraz "Old Bastard," sourced from a 114-year-old vineyard, and which spent 22 months in new and one-year-old French oak. It presents a superb perfume of cedar, violets, lavender, smoked meat, game, black raspberry, and blueberry. This leads to a voluptuous, velvety-textured, layered, super concentrated Shiraz in perfect balance with well-concealed tannins and a 60-second, pure finish. Give it 6-8 years and drink it through 2035.
Score: 98.
—Jay Miller,
October
2007.
Wine Enthusiast
From vines planted in 1893, this wine combines spicy complexity with size and ultraconcentrated fruit. It tips the scales at 16% alcohol, but wears it well, hiding it under hints of licorice and subtle wood spice and layers of blackberry and blueberry fruit. Yes, it's big, but it's not inelegant, finishing lush, long and spicy. Terrific stuff that should drink well from 2010-2020.
Score: 95.
—Joe Czerwinski,
November
01,
2007.
Wine Spectator
Big but graceful. Offers a plush mouthful of ripe cherry, blackberry, pomegranate and cardamom, mingling beautifully on the rich, expressive finish. The tannins are beautifully integrated and refined, but definitely worth cellaring to soften. Shiraz. Best from 2010 through 2020.
Score: 95.
—Harvey Steiman,
October
15,
2007.
All vintages and prices are subject to verification. We endeavor to maintain an up-to-date inventory however, some products and vintages may sell out before we are able to update our site.
|
|
Red Wine
|
|
White Wine
|
|
Sparkling Wine & Champagne
|
Kosher
Wine which is produced and bottled under strict supervision and meets all standards to be certified Kosher.
Organic
Wine which is produced using organic practices and is free of all synthetic chemicals, antibiotics, hormones and pesticides.
Biodynamic
Biodynamic designation is regulated by Demeter, an international certification organization. Biodynamic agriculture is based on the view of a farm as a self-contained organism. Certified organic vineyards must meet Demeter"s additional criteria for a period of one year before earning the designation "biodynamic."
Sustainably Grown
Sustainable practices incorporate organic standards and may exceed them and include ecologically and socially sound business practices such as fair pay for farm workers and energy conservation.
Screw Cap
Wines sealed with a screw cap as opposed to a cork, which experts report protects and preserves wine more effectively than does a cork, while also eliminating the possibility of cork taint.
No Sulfites
All wines naturally contain some sulfites, however wines that contain less than 10 parts per million sulfites are not required to include "Contains Sulfites" on their labels.
Futures
Wines that are still in the barrel and have yet to be bottled. Futures offer the opportunity to invest in a wine before it arrives in our store.
Pre-arrivals
Like futures, pre-arrivals are wines that have not yet arrived on our shelves, however they may or may not be a new release. Pre-arrivals may already be bottled and en route to our store.
Wine Advocate
The Wine Advocate is a bimonthly wine publication featuring the consumer advice of wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. Initially titled The Baltimore-Washington Wine Advocate the first issue was published in 1978. Accepting no advertising, the newsletter publishes in excess of 7,500 reviews per year, utilizing Parker's rating system that employs a 50-100 point quality scale.
Wine Spectator
Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces. Each issue also includes from 400 to more than 1,000 wine reviews, which consist of wine ratings and tasting notes.
International Wine Cellar
Since 1997, the 100% subscriber-supported IWC has also been available in French and Japanese editions.
Wine Enthusiast
Wine Enthusiast Magazine is a lifestyle magazine covering wine, food, spirits, travel and entertaining topics. It was founded in 1988 by Adam and Sybil Strum and reaches 686,000 readers. Its wine ratings, conducted by reviewers in major wine-producing areas of the world, are considered an influential gauge for consumers and professionals in the wine industry.
Wine & Spirits
Wine and Spirits is America's practical guide to the straightforward, enlightened enjoyment of fine wine and and premium spirits. We have for 18 years served customers and marketers alike with a lively mix of wine reviews, features, profiles, food and wine pairings, new product introductions, travel pieces, history, opinion and wine business news.
Burghound
Burghound.com was the first of its kind to offer specialized, and more importantly, exhaustive coverage of a specific wine region. The first Issue was released in January of 2001 and there are now subscribers in more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states. Allen Meadows spends over four months a year in Burgundy and visits more than 300 domaines during that time.
James Halliday
James is one of the world’s leading authorities on Australian wine, matching intelligent, honest reviews with unparalleled knowledge of, and passion for, the wine industry.
Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
For thirty-five years, Connoisseurs’ Guide has been the authoritative voice of the California wine consumer. With readers in all fifty states and twenty foreign countries, the Guide is valued by wine lovers everywhere for its honesty and for it strong adherence to the principles of transparency, unbiased, hard-hitting opinions.
James Suckling
I rate wines using the 100-points scale. I have used this point system for close to 25 years. I still believe it is the simplest way to rate a wine, with its origins from grade school in the United States. A wine that I rate 90 points or more is outstanding (A), and worth buying. If I rate a wine 95 points or more (A+), it is a must buy.
View from the Cellar
View From the Cellar, an electronic wine newsletter published bi-monthly by John Gilman.
Wine Journal
Homepage for wine writer, Neal Martin's, "Diary of a Wine Writer".
Malt Advocate
Malt Advocate magazine is America's leading whisky magazine. It's the number one source for whisky information, education and entertainment for whisky enthusiasts.
The Rhone Report
Dedicated to the wines and grapes of the Rhone Valley
Wine Review Online
Wine Review Online was originally conceived by Publisher Robert Whitley as an all-encompassing platform for the many talented wine journalists he came across in his travels as wine columnist for the Creators Syndicate.
