Chris Shanahan: Wine review — Miramar & Gibson

Miramar Mudgee Chardonnay 2000, $15 at cellar door
The trophy-winning Miramar Chardonnay 1984 was the most memorable wine of the 2003 Mudgee Regional Wine Show. For a nineteen year old it showed extraordinary vibrance and varietal flavour in combination with mellow, aged character. It was just one of a continuing line of age-worthy estate-grown-chardonnays made by Ian McRae at Miramar. Indeed, Ian releases all of his chardonnays with considerable bottle age. The current release, from the small 2000 vintage, shows bright melon-like varietal character and tremendous freshness plus all the textural and flavour complexities that come from fermentation and maturation in new American oak barrels and prolonged bottle ageing. This is an irresistibly delicious drop and a sensational bargain at $15. Cellar door, phone 02 6373 3874

Gibson Barossa Vale Shiraz 2002, about $33.50
Rob Gibson earned a big reputation in the wine industry during twenty years with Penfolds, working at what he calls ‘the interface between winery and vineyards’. With wife Anne, Rob founded Gibson Barossa Vale Wines in 1996 with vineyards in Stockwell and Light Pass in the Northern Barossa. This beautiful red, sourced mainly from the Stockwell vineyard, expresses the power, juicy richness and soft, almost tender, tannins of northern Barossa shiraz. Good oak is an integral part of the wine, lifting the fruit and adding its own flavour and structural complexities. This is a way-above-average newcomer to the market and worth its price. Winery phone number is 08 8562 3193.