1996 Basket Press Shiraz

The nearly perfect 1996 Basket Press Shiraz Hoffman comes from red soils high in iron content overlaying pure limestone. This is fabulous stuff. The wine has a saturated opaque purple color and a very thick, juicy nose of blackberry and currant fruit, intermixed with minerals and violet. As the wine sits in the glass, leather, licorice, and roasted notes come forward. Enormously endowed, multi-dimensional, but in need of 5-7 years of cellaring, this is a tour de force in winemaking and a example of what the ancient dry-farmed old bush vine Shiraz can do in this privileged area of the world. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2030. Thanks to the persistent efforts of the American importer Dan Philips of the Grateful Palate (Oxnard, CA; tel. 888-472-5283), small quantities of Rockford wines for the first time are now available in the United States.