Ranked #7 of 15 2002 Shiraz from Clare Valley
91/100
4 Stars
Huon Hooke
Medium to full brick-red colour with a tawny rim. Sump oil, soy sauce, creosote-like bouquet. This is a fully mature old shiraz, rich and soft, mellow and rounded on the palate, with nice fruit-sweetness and lush richness. It's very mellow and quite developed for its age. It's full-bodied and high in alcohol, but not out of balance in any way. The bouquet became increasingly choc-mint. This would be a good drink with cheese.
Tasted: 06/09/2013
Drink: 2013 to 2017
97 Points Robert Parker
The 2002 Shiraz Oracle, which I reviewed last year, has gotten even better with an additional year of bottle age. From the Clare Valley (a slightly cooler climate region), it spent 24 months in 100% French oak (50% new), and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Its inky/purple color is accompanied by sumptuous aromas of graphite, blueberries, blackberries, cassis, and subtle oak. There is great fruit on the attack, full body, wonderful elegance, precision, and purity, tremendous length and persistence, sweet tannin, and good acidity that provides definition to this majestic wine’s amply endowed components. Give it another 2-3 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following two decades.
Source: Robert Parker (Robert Parker Wine Advocate) by Robert M. Parker, Jr. October, 2005
96 Points James Halliday
Dense colour, rich blackberry and blackcurrant run through an intense and long palate, with excellent balance and structure; exemplary tannins and oak. Drink to 2017.
Source: James Halliday. October, 2004