1996 Rosemount Estate Balmoral Syrah

The 1995 Balmoral was voted the wine of the year in 1998 and the 1996 is equally as impressive. The price is not cheap, it is a wine that has captured the imagination of the public and has continued to escalate dramatically in price. An Australian Superstar! The 1996 vintage enjoyed a relatively mild growing season with little summer rainfall. This resulted in very intense concentrated fruit. The wine was matured in new American oak barrels for 20 months with full malo-latic fermentation. Opaque crimson purple colour. Superb perfumed nose of violets, vanilla, confectionary, spice, dark cherries and blood plums. Totally mouth filling palate. The Pamela Anderson of Australian wine, but without the props! Monumental flavour of ripe blackberries, plums, liquorice and spice all enveloped in superb oak. Silky smooth tannins with exceptionally long aftertaste, (lasting minutes) with a re emergence of violets, followed by ripe plums, vanilla and spice. A Great Australian Red. Cellar 8-10 years.

Winemakers Tasting Notes: This outstanding McLaren Vale Syrah has been named Balmoral after the Oatley family homestead, built in 1852. The wine was first produced in 1989, initially under the Rosemount Show Reserve banner. In 1992 it was renamed Balmoral and is now recognised as Rosemount's red wine flagship. Syrah vines have been grown in McLaren Vale for over 160 years and a few small patches of very old vines survive today, yielding tiny quantities of exceptional fruit. The fruit for Balmoral is sourced in the main from three distinct areas of the McLaren Vale region, the sandy loam soils to the north of Blewitt Springs; the darker soils in McLaren flat itself; and the red soils with underlying limestone which are found in the Seaview area.The 1996 vintage enjoyed a relatively mild growing season with little summer rainfall. This resulted in very intense concentrated fruit. The wine was matured in new American oak barrels for 20 months with full malo-latic fermentation. Deep red purple colour. On the nose there are aromas of spice and plumy fruit with well integrated American oak notes. The palate is velvet smooth, rich and concentrated. There are young inky, berry, cloves and spicy shiraz flavours with hints of vanillin oak. Firm but fine tannin structure with very long aftertaste. Cellar 10-15 years.