1998 Greenock Creek Creek Block Shiraz

The old Creek Block vines have their roots well and truly established in permanently damp, deep alluvium, and it can be no accident that the wine's hallmark swampiness is evident in all vintages. This is a meaty brute, near as dammit to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It reeks of stewed prune and plum, with the mud and old leather of the creek giving it that hearty Beaucastel-like soul. But this wine shows much more fresh flesh than anything Chateauneuf has to offer. While its middle palate is more slender and vigorous than the Seven Acre, this is more challenging, more eccentric wine, with greater swathes of velvety, dry tannin, and a lovely, lingering finish. 2005 –2020

Notes sourced from Greenock Creek.