Briarston

[Innkeeper]

Earlier this year I was asked to evaluate an Australian red that we had not seen before. It was a Coldstream Hills , Briarston, Yarra Valley, 1995. Have no idea what it cost. Since it was a Bordeaux blend, assumed that a Briarston would be something like an American Meritage. After letting it rest for six months, we recently gave it a go. We opened and decanted it (as we routinely do with all high shouldered reds), and detected no sediment in the bottle. Nothing untoward on the nose, only pleasant fruit. The first taste delivered a strong dose of acid. It was like tasting a huge young red, except without the tannin. Honestly, no trace of tannin. Just fruit and acid. We cleaned our pallets and tried again. Same thing. Hate to go negative on something like this when there is more than one possibility. It could be that with no tannin to work on, the wine would be forever acidic. It is also possible that the tannins were there, but so soft we could not detect them, and further aging would make it just fine, if not wonderful. Does anyone have any experience with this baby?