Winner of Winestate Magazine’s World’s Greatest Shiraz Challenge VIII
5 June 2013
The wine beat over 700 international Shiraz reds from France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. ‘I couldn’t be prouder of our Filsell Shiraz,’ Grant Burge said as he celebrated the award. ‘We’ve won 5 major trophies, 22 gold medals and 47 silver medals since Filsell’s release in 1992.’
Grant attributed the wine’s success to the unique Barossa vineyard which gives the wine its name. The vines are over 90 years old, planted in the traditional style, and still bearing exceptional quality fruit. ‘It is one of the few significant survivors of the vine pull scheme of the early 1980s,’ says Grant, ‘and it crams character into each berry.”
He said the 2010 Filsell Shiraz had incredible depth of colour and a rare purity of fruit in the bouquet. ‘The 2010 vintage was a great year and it has all of those ripe blackberry and blackcurrant aromas infused with rich vanilla and milk chocolate notes. The palate is beautifully weighted, with optimal balance between concentrated fruit flavours, sweet spices, tannins and acidity.’
What does this award really mean?
These Best of comps are extremely silly, and usually produce pretty odd results. We don’t know what wines were included in the 700 tasted by Winstate – Grange 2008? Grant’s own Meshach? The details will be published in the September edition of Winestate Magazine, due out in Ausgust.
Photo source: www.ozwinereview.com/2012/06/grant-burge-filsell-shiraz-2010.html
James Halliday gives it 94 points and so does Gary Walsh at the Winefront. Campbell Mattinson gives it 93 and Mike Bennie gives it just 90, finding the oak a bit much – spicy, nougat, toasty, chocolatey.
For once, we’re with the high scorers except we think the 2010 Filsell deserves at least 95 points. It’s a classy Shiraz with fragrant sweet fruit and seamless cedary oak. It has depth and length and surprising finesse. 14%. Good to drink now but will improve for a few years. The price is $28.50 at Dan Murphy’s in a mixed half dozen.
Kim
