- Eden Valley, SA - $75-$135
- Cork (protruding/evenly stained right through)
- 14.0%alc
On a recent visit to the winery I noticed Henschke selling off cellar release bottles of the 1995 Mount Edelstone for $110 (current vintage $89), however, this bottle isn't one of those, it's been in my collection for some time and now sports an ominously protruding cork.
This 15 year old Mount Edelstone still holds a red hue, but even after 4 hours in the decanter it remains rather flat in aroma, presenting a somewhat nullified expression of redcurrant, sweet red cherry and licorice residing beneath a much stronger cedar component. It clearly lacks the aromatic vitality and character I expected. The palate however, is smooth, fluffy and gentle, with a surprisingly soft fullness; it combines a much more evenly balanced, if fairly simple combination of sweet red berry fruit and cedar oak. It fades out a fraction towards its finish, with a barely noticeable announcement of tannins softly touching the final climax.
O Once I got over the lack of aromatic quality, I found this wine to have a totally pleasant, soft and polite palate of very drinkable proportions. Sorry, but I feel this wine is the result of one particular, perhaps slightly off bottle, which would've drunk better about three years ago. I'm sure there will be better bottles of the '95 Mount Edelstone out there than this. Drink now.
90 points
This is a bit of a pity, but you may have left it a bit long. I tend to drink my Mt. Edelstones between 7 and 10 years, other than 2002, which will go for over 20.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Alontin.
ReplyDeleteI do like my wines quite mature, developed and savoury (I think I might've inherited that from my father!), but I must agree with you here. This definitely would've been better at least a few years ago.
In hindsight it would've been an interesting exercise to of picked up one of those winery aged bottles from Henschke back in December, and to of compared it with my more 'standard home-style' cellared bottle.
Cheers,
Chris P