Welcome to the latest edition of Soaked. In this edition we'll take a look at some of Fox Creek's latest releases.

The Fox & the Goat Dinner

Fox Creek’s wines served with Goat cuisine made for an intriguing combination at a wine dinner earlier in the week at De Oliveira’s Palace. The General Manager of Fox Creek is also a specialist goat farmer. The combination of rich McLaren Vale reds with a range of goat tapas and a rich roasted spicy tomato goat main dish was very pleasing.

The evening led me to reflect on Shiraz in McLaren Vale, for me one of Australia’s best Shiraz regions. I really like McLaren Vale Shiraz, not just for it’s richness and depth but for it’s regional nuances, a subtle earthiness, liquorice/fennel and Asian spices add layers of complexity and interest to the lovely rich fruity characters. For me the, thankfully waning, fashion of using too much new high toast American oak obliterates these interesting regional subtleties, rendering the wines as barely distinguishable clones of the popular Barossa Shiraz style.

Fox Creek Shiraz grabbed the attention of the wine world in the late 90s with a series of blockbuster wines made by Sparky Marquis. American wine writer Robert Parker Jnr awarded these wines some stellar scores with the Reserve Shiraz grabbing the limelight (1996, 95pts; 1997, 96pts; 1998, 98pts). These were unctuous over the top wines of massive concentration, a melding of blackberries, black currants, liquorice and loads of sweet American oak. In spite of the glowing reviews I always found them too much, overly sweet and slightly hot, a touch too coarse and brash. It has been really pleasing to see the evolution of the Fox Creek reds under the stewardship of the new winemaking team of Chris Dix and Scott Zrna.

The Reserve Shiraz has always been the flagship wine for Fox Creek, representing their best possible expression of McLaren Vale Shiraz. The 2004 is a super drink, it is still a bit closed and darkly concentrated, it is definitely in need of some time in the cellar to be fully appreciated. The fruit is very intense, leaning to blackberries and dark plums. The oak is evident but not over bearing, adding structure and vanillin elements, spicy notes & dark choco/coffee characters are prominent, firm yet fine tannins are quite pronounced at the moment. The great power and length of this wine are indicative of an outstanding wine. Overall, this is Shiraz of the highest quality, a special wine for the cellar, well worth the $60 or so you’ll have to outlay to take it home with you.

The 2002 (the 2003 was declassified and blended into the 2003 Short Row) is just as good, with a cooler vintage producing more red fruit characters and greater spiciness, a wine reflective of both the region and the vintage. Together these two wines point to a bright future for a wine that is now a great “McLaren Vale” Shiraz, not just another big Aussie Shiraz clone.

The 2004 Short Row Shiraz is a better drink right now, this is the second tier Shiraz with a retail price in the high twenties. It is softer, less structured and much more approachable than the Reserve but retains much of the delicious fruit character of the more expensive wine. This went very well with our spicy roast goat dish and I’d suggest current drinking with a rich red meat dish .

I enjoyed the new 2005 Red Baron Shiraz with the goat sausages, a simpler wine with softer sweet red fruits, a hint of raisins, it is a touch clunky but pretty quaffable all the same, . This wine features one of the uglier labels I’ve seen of late – only lacking Snoopy descending from the heavens in his Sopwith Camel! Expect to pay somewhere between $15 and $20.

The first Shiraz based wine served was the 2004 JSM, a blend of 78% Shiraz, 13% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a pleasing blend that is fruit driven without being overly sweet, the Cabernet Franc gives the wine floral lift and the Cab Sauv gives some additional length and structure. This is a vibrant red with lashings of dark berry fruit and subtle spicy and liquorice notes, some fleshy tannins and very good length. JSM is a superior delicious quaffer that offers great current drinking, it could even be given a year or two to soften in the cellar.

The evening concluded with a wine & food match right out of left field; the dessert of Spanish Donuts served with a rich milk chocolate sauce was paired very successfully with the Vixen sparkling red. In the Loire Valley sparkling red wines that are quite similar to our wines are made from Cabernet Franc and traditionally served with chocolate cake and strawberries. I’d really suggest giving this idea a whirl at a dinner party, the sweetness, dark berry and chocolate flavours combined with the low tannins of most sparkling reds should go well with most lighter milk chocolate desserts. This is a great alternative to a Rutherglen sticky on a hot summer evening.

Fox Creek wines are widely available, visit their web site of you have any problems finding them.

Keep your eye on the website over the next few weeks for more great wines and reviews.

Please send me an email if you have any queries or comments.

Over the next few issues we'll look at some newly arrived Spanish & Kiwi wines, as well as take a look at the new Jamie Oliver restaurant project "15" in Melbourne.

Cheers for now,

Declan

Soak Wines

www.soakwines.com.au