Marius 2018 Harvest

A bit earlier this, last day of harvest was 3/3/18. Yields down on last year, which was fairly high, but this year was around average overall. Weather was perfect. Right, that covers it all I think. Oh, the grapes, well my expert opinion is they are very good, but they are always very good.

Discarded grapes with bunch stem necrosis, this is another reason why hand harvesting results in better wine. Just one of the services we pickers offer you drinkers - we don't do it for free though, see below.

We tasted many great wines. Unfortunately my notes are lacking detail and they are really just to give my first impressions.

 2016 Simpatico Shiraz

The nose on this was tremendous, plums, chocolate, and that unique Marius perfume. Lovely tannin structure and great overall mouthfeel, muscular with perfect balance. This wine shows the excellent growing conditions that year but needs a year or two more I think. Possibly my favourite Simpatico since 2012.

 2016 Symphony Shiraz

A spicier nose than the Simpatico, but a bit more closed overall. This is a tomorrow wine at the moment, open it today but drink it tomorrow. I'd like to spend 48 hours with the wine before making any meaningful claims but my initial guess is this may rank with 2012 as well.

2016 Symposium Shiraz Mourvedre

Happy, happy days! After many years it has returned. The Mataro is from a different vineyard than previous releases, but that was through choice. Roger was wanting to maximize that really earthy, spicey, dried herb character that Mataro can have, and this has it in spades. You'd almost think there is more Mataro than Shiraz in this, despite the label. A stunning wine, as all the 2016's are. This got the same oak treatment as the Symphony, which I expect helps accentuate the spice even more. This special wine even further highlights what a masterful winemaker Roger is. Sorry, it's sold out, I bought it all.







The 2016 wines are not yet released and won't be until around Sept 2018.