When Marquis Phillips wines burst onto the scene around the beginning of the century, this was the flagship and quite the divisive wine. It was a poster child for the big, perhaps overblown style of Aussie Shiraz that was so popular at the time. Most loved them but many disliked the style. It was interesting to check in on this 21 years later. If you loved it then, you will still and vice-versa. Purple in color with ruby hues. Mostly clear and bright. It seems the color has faded a tad in the intervening 21 years. On the nose, this is fresh and big with black raspberries, black olives, dark chocolate and with some air, slight mint and Iodine. A very rich texture. Light tannins. On the palate, lots of black raspberry fruit and some chocolate. Plenty of depth. This is still youthful and while it may have calmed down a bit, it really hasn't seemed to change much. Those who said this would never age were quite simply wrong. Did it improve from ageing? A bit, but this seems to have a way to go from maturity. Long finish. Of course, if you didn't like it young, you still don't. This drinks great on its own and will require a big piece of meat or other big food. Certainly delicious now, but this seems like it should easily go another ten and probably twenty years.
