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November
11, 2002
1999
Shiraz – Oddfellows – Langhorne Creek – Australia
4.5 grapes
Allocated product - Tony Maynard - Harvest Vintage Imports – (780)
414-0308
Regarded as one of the best-kept secrets in Australian viticulture, Langhorne Creek is one of Australia's oldest yet fastest growing wine grape districts.
Slurping down the 1999 Oddfellows is an experience that everyone should experience. In 1999, Oddfellows owners David & Kathy Knight, Liz Adams (who happens to be married to Guy Adams of Brothers In Arms), Mark Laurie, Tony Bishop, and Cathy Bell sourced their grapes from many of the same vineyard blocks that were used in Brothers in Arms and Killibinbin. However, the oak regimen used by Greg Follet was slightly different. Oddfellows makes use of a combination of new oak and a number of one-year old barrels during the aging process. This wine, a whopping 15.4%, is as bold and brash on first taste as the other but there is a bit more fine tannins supporting the wine, aided and abetted with a subtle trace of mint. There¹s an aura of subtlety lurking just beneath the ripe fruit, hinting that there is enough going on down there to indicate that this wine may well be the best wine of the group if allowed enough time in the cellar to allow all the elements time to fully integrate. I love opening a bottle on Friday night and tasting its progress over the rest of the weekend. It’s an astonishingly fascinating bottle of wine, equally offering pleasures both intellectual and hedonistic. As the label says (and shows): “our fingerprints are all over it”....this is a wine made by a diverse group of people and it will be difficult to find anyone who will not enjoy it."
The Purple Feet Rating System: |
5 grapes = spectacular |
4 grapes = delicious |
3 grapes = yummy |
2 grapes = okay |
1 grape = awkward |
