2002 Oracle Shiraz Reserve

The 2002 Shiraz Oracle, which I reviewed last year, has gotten even better with an additional year of bottle age. From the Clare Valley (a slightly cooler climate region), it spent 24 months in 100% French oak (50% new), and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Its inky/purple color is accompanied by sumptuous aromas of graphite, blueberries, blackberries, cassis, and subtle oak. There is great fruit on the attack, full body, wonderful elegance, precision, and purity, tremendous length and persistence, sweet tannin, and good acidity that provides definition to this majestic wine’s amply endowed components. Give it another 2-3 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following two decades. This is one of the most brilliantly run wineries in Australia, and the quality of the entire portfolio is impressive thanks to the enviable talents of winemaker Kevin Mitchell ... also one of South Australia’s “good guys.” Importer: Peter Weygandt, Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800