oz, a slight return

friend offered this after dinner ...

fox creek reserve shiraz 1999 [mclaren vale]

decanted, thrown a crust; dark ruby/almost purple, looked youthful; lots of stuff, plum, blackberry, someone said blueberry cos he'd been having lots with his muesli recently, pepper (hint), some mushroom/damp earth/funk, someone said granny smith?, a little green/stalky?, hint of vanilla, musk candy, christmas pudding?; plum,berry and some raisins, wood; expected a rich, complex and plush mouthfeel ... nope; a bit of alcohol burn; still lots of firm fine furry tannins and acid; medium bodied and length; 14.5%; seemed to whither in the glass, just tannic and tart in the end; from the colour, nose and structure, you'd expect it to age further but the fruit seems to be missing; POP!

this stuff is overpriced cos earlier vintages were well reviewed by the champions of oak and over-extraction as well as the the scourge of reasonable pricing, wa and ws ...... same friend has also got the 2002, which is supposedly da (fruit and wood?) bomb, hope it doesn't develop into a damp squib by the time we see it.