It is a little sad that our SA Drink Of The Week is a Rockford Black Shiraz, disgorged in 2015, which we opened and tasted as part of producing episode 210 of The Adelaide Show podcast.
Sad because this wine, and its next vintage, are all sold out and there will be none available until December this year, if you are lucky.
We use the term “disgorged” because the base wine for the Black Shiraz is matured in large old wood for three years before fermentable sugar and yeast is added to induce secondary fermentation, and then left on lees (basically, the dead yeast cells after fermentation) for a year before disgorgement (removal of the frozen sediment (yeast) collected at the neck of the inverted bottle after the ageing process and the second fermentation) and further cellaring prior to release.
That being said, we are grateful to our guest, Chris Ruff, of Insight Global Risk, for sharing one of these $100+ wines for us to taste and review.
Chris is a “Stonewaller”, a member of the Rockford Wines mailing list, number 29 in fact, and he shares his story of how busloads of Victorians led him to stumble into the jewel of the Barossa crown.
2015 Rockford Black Shiraz tasting notes
The first thing Steve noted was the mousse (the foam and mouthfeel of the wine), in particular how it was quite in the mid-range of all the sparklings he’d tried before.
But what struck him the most was how there was a frill of red raspberry draped around his palate, like that of a cloak worn by a king (for some reason he was picturing the Weeties king as he described this) and this was followed by a trail of Big Boy Licorice forged right through his palate.
Given the night was recorded on the eve of the Royal Adelaide Show, Steve noted how the licorice from the showbag hall, the bright red characters from the stage, the bubbles representing the fun and laughter of sideshow alley, and the tannins that finish the experience being like the little child asleep on their parent’s shoulder as they walk back to the car after the fireworks, make this wine akin to a visit to the Show in a glass!
Chris refers to this wine as nectar of the gods and this has a depth he cannot find in the many other fine sparkling reds made in South Australia. In fact, he buys as many of each release as he is allowed!
He said every time he brings a bottle out among friends, it empties quickly (as it did Tuesday night).
Nigel said it was smooth, delivering a satisfying Shiraz experience as the bubbles dissipate.
Listen to episode 210 of The Adelaide Show for our live tasting of the Rockford Black Shiraz, by either searching for us in iTunes or in your favourite podcast player, or by using the player below.