WINE OF THE WEEK:
Felix Adams Road Shiraz ready to drink now -- or later
Vasse Felix produces an exciting range of wines divided into several tiers.
The Adams Road Shiraz is not only approachable but a good wine to drink when it is young. In picking the 2002 vintage -- considered a blockbuster in Australia's remote Margaret River region -- this wine is highly recommended and ready to drink.
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In the glass, this Vasse Felix Shiraz is a deep, blood-red color with crimson streaks and a deeply opaque core going out into a dense ruby-red rim definition with medium-high painted viscosity.
On the nose, it explodes with measured intensity, showing crushed mixed berries, huckleberry juice, boysenberry sorbet, crème brulee, vanilla beans and good balanced amounts of new oak.
In the mouth, the wine is intense with powerful crushed black cherries, brambleberry juice, blackberry liqueur, blueberry pie, spicy peppery minerals and oak. The midpalate is superbly balanced, and the wine shows like a dream through the finish with supple tannin structure, real "backbone" and a long velvety finish, punctuated by hints of aniseed and melted licorice molasses.
This is a big wine that shows well already but will develop further muscle and should drink well through 2009. Adams Road Shiraz might be the thing to try with something on the barbie, as they say Down Under, but keep it in the steak department.
Wine: Vasse Felix Adams Road Shiraz
Grape: Shiraz
Region: Margaret River, western Australia
Vintage: 2002
Price: $12.99
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.
