Bugalugs by Tim
Smith Barossa Valley Shiraz 2013
$20; 14.5% alcohol;
screw cap; 91+++ points
I reckon I've worked out what Tim Smith's worked out.
What he's worked out is how to get grapes to surrender really really fine
tannins, like grains finer than dust. Some tannin seems the size of gravel, some's
like shredded wolfhound. But these are smaller than dust. Softer than velvet.
As thin and shiny as silk. Tim must get Shiva or somebody to smash 'em into
another realm so tiny that exponentially there's a lot more of 'em but they're
so small they're gone. They're smaller than neutrinos. Which is not to say
they're about to give up preserving this wine in the fullbore wholesome natural
way. I've studied these tannins for eight days in a row. This is a
perfectly-balanced cordial essence of Barossa Shiraz without it being
concentrated by too much alcohol or gloop but somehow quite naturally it's a
concentrate anyway. With hyper-smooth tannins. Somehow the acid's just
perfectly through the middle like a malleable wire and it's in the
Torzi-Matthews bracket for very best hand-made value. The Barossa's one of the
few places on Earth that does red like this at $20. Tim very seriously is a
Master.
Tim Smith Wines
Barossa Valley Grenache 2014
$36; 14.5% alcohol;
screw cap; 93++ points
When I first let this genie out last Wednesday it spun
like a Persian pashmak fairey floss that never crystallised into the brittle
hairs they want coming off the spinner but sort of settled into a cosy rosehip
jelly with Maraschino cherries and ripe raspberry gels and stuff like you'd get
from a carny who trusted you and poured all his best stuff on there specially
for you regardless of what you wanted. In these eight days that fruit's let a
whiff of ground-up bone-dry rockdirt through its healthy chub. Now it's rakish
like a twenty year old kid. You better stand well back. Still real fresh jujube
fruit, maybe some cool chamomile tea. The beautiful reek of dressed leather,
its sole on the hearth rail. Like the above jester, it makes me want to play
Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, Cramps, Jackie de Shannon ... it's the latest best Barossa
Grenache in my book. Let it stroll up the carpet. "Every time that you ...
doot doot doot doot ... walk in the room." Drink this wine in five or ten years
and you'll be babbling like a fool.
Tim Smith Wines
Barossa Shiraz 2013
$36; 14.5% alcohol;
screw cap; 94++ points
Something about this wine reminds me of Gerard Jaboulet
on deck in his wetsuit after diving in the Mediterranean for Phoenecian amphorae
and he's sitting there laughing with a glass of 1978 Jaboulet Hermitage spilled
all over him. We're in the French Navy submariners' lounge somewhere off
Marseilles. But then I sniff it afresh, and it's the same dude in leather. With
a Gitanes. Took him eight days to change. Now he's the well-dressed cavalier sweating
in and out of rides. Silk again. Sagas. His
huge mount with tiny muscles flicking individual flies. It phases and strobes
the memory and if I concentrate properly I'll trip. Hang on. Yes. Now it's a
woman. Praise Bacchus for that. This is a luxurious hyper Shiraz which transports
me as it will you and it'll bloom for a decade in your cellar, and then on and
on. It is beautiful wine. These are all beautiful, evocative wines. None of
them make me think of food. There's no need.
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