Our Wines - 2009 Divine Shiraz
Divine
The Wine
Deep impenetrable dark red/purple in colour with opulent, concentrated aromas of black plum and berry-fruit compote. Hints of black-strap licorice, Barossan earth, dark chocolate, kirsch, beef consommé, soy sauce, deep exotic spices and sweetly judged oak combine to provide a most heady smelling wine.
The palate is where the old-vine fruit comes into its own...mouthfilling with excellent weight and texture in spades. Flavours of rich blackberry, Satsuma plum and kirsch flow across the palate with hints of licorice, clove, five spice, dark cooking chocolate, roast beef and vanillin oak. The intense flavours on the palate create a lush backdrop for the raft of ripe, fine-grained tannins that kick in as the finish carries through with a perfect sense of balance and length. Full-bodied, lushly fruited and proudly Barossa, this is the guy to grab with hearty red meat dishes.
Enjoy now or cellar for 10-15 years.
The Winemaking
Fermented on skins in an open fermenter for 7 days and then gently basket pressed, this small parcel of wine was then transferred to 50 % new and 50% old American(25%) and French(75%) fine grain hogsheads for 3 months lees stirring and 24 months maturation.
Once matured the wine was bottled unfiltered and then spends 12 months maturing in our warehouse prior to release.
Bottled – March 7th 2011
Alc -14.8%
pH – 3.48
The Vineyard
The grapes were grown on the out skirts of Greenock, home of some of the most extraordinary grapes. Vines were planted in the mid 1980’s in sandy loam topsoil over light clay.
Cropped at 1.6 tonnes per acre, the vineyard was harvested on March 16th when optimum flavours and balance were achieved in the grape.
- 4 stars - panel - Winestate Magazine - March/April New Releases
A big tannic wine with lovely, lifted, bright meaty / prune-like varietal fruit characters balanced with powerful oak sitting in the background. - 4 stars - Panel - Winestate Magazine - Barossa & Eden Valley
- Julian Coldrey - Full Pour
18 Dec 2011
I pondered the stylistic choices made in last year's model, and on pouring it's immediately obvious the same path has been pursued here. This is a wine that leaves one in no doubt of its position at the top of the range.
The nose is dominated by the most seductive, expensive oak. Coffee, brown spice, Muscovado sugar; it's quite overwhelming and, it has to be said, impressive. Slowly but surely, a rich vein of Barossa fruit starts to emerge, forcing its way through the planks. It's distinctively regional in the blockbuster sense, redolent of plum liqueur and fruit cake. I've only been sitting with this for an hour or so, and have no doubt the fruit's emergence will continue for some time.
The palate is more immediately fruited, which may come as a relief after the hyper masculine, somewhat forbidding aroma. On entry, spurts of fruit outrun enthusiastic oak and land on a middle palate that is highly spiced and less brutish than one might expect. Indeed, there's a pleasing levity to this wine that is at odds with its confrontational flavour profile and which grants it welcome light and shade. Structure is ever-present, as much driven by slightly hot acid as by chalky tannin. The after palate is driven by coffee and spice, the finish long.
It's hard to assess such styles when young. I do know it's a dense wine, full of impact and designed to wow. What I'm interested to see is how this ages; whether the fruilt and oak will achieve balance, how the flavours will evolve.
Day 2: the wine has markedly lost its roughest edges and fruit is flowing more cleanly now. Still a massively dense wine, but much more drinkable and balanced. The fruit itself is most attractive. Give it ten years.
Yelland & Papps
Price: $A75
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample
Posted by Julian on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 3:03 AM
Filed in Australia, Red and tagged 2009, Barossa Valley, Shiraz/Syrah, South Australia
- 3 stars - Panel - Winestate Special Edition 2011 New Releases
Beautiful balanced wine- fresh and alert, and loaded with licorice and stewed fruit characters. - 92 points - Stuart Robinson - The Vinsomniac
The Vinsomniac
vinsomniac ~ noun: a person who suffers from vinsomnia, the inability, to obtain sufficient sleep, through constantly thinking about wine and related matters.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Yelland & Papps Divine Shiraz 2009
Of the Yelland & Papps 'Divine' releases (there's also a Grenache and a Mataro) this is clearly the 'Jock' of the bunch. Primus inter pares perhaps, but it's the 'biggest' of the bunch, the most straightforward, the leader of the pack - if not the most complex. The wine clearly states its case as a top-tier wine.
On opening it's like someone has taken some oak staves - some new, some old; some French, some American - and sprinkled liberally with dark brown muscovado sugar, a touch of vanilla and Jamaica spice. In fact it somewhat reminded me of Jamaica Ginger cake I used to eat as a wee one.
Given time this somewhat dissipates, allowing the fruit to shine through. Yet still there's chocolate covered raisins, christmas cake spice and hints of plum. In the mouth, entry shows a rich, concentrated, unctuous wine with blackcurrant and blackberry, spice and black pepper. This aspect of the wine doesn't fade with time - it's somewhat like peering into the abyss with this deep mass of black fruit and liquorice. It's a black hole you don't return from. A lavish Shiraz with length, depth and persistence. 92 - Very Good
Source: Sample
Price: $75
Alcohol:14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://yellandandpapps.com
Follow me: http://twitter.com/TheVinsomniac
Posted by Stu. at 05:54
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Labels: 2009, Barossa Valley, Shiraz