Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 1999

Fox Creek Wines was established in 1984 when Helen and Dr Jim Watts purchased a 32 hectare property on Malpas Road in McLaren Vale. The Reserve Shiraz is their flagship and most celebrated wine. The first vintage, made in 1994, won the Trophy for the best wine at the McLaren Vale Wine Show. The Reserve is a veritable powerhouse with amazing depth and richness. Flavours of blackberry, cassis, liquorice and dark chocolate abound in a palate of power, intensity and length. Can be enjoyed in its youth or cellared long term.

"Impressive is the 1999 Shiraz Reserve. The wine is a dense purple color, with a sweet, almost blackberry liqueur nose, and smoke, licorice, and oak in the background. Jammy and rich, with huge body, good purity, adequate acidity, and a long finish, this is an impressive, surprisingly large-scaled 1999."  Robert Parker

Expert reviews

"Nervy, high-toned aromatics of cedar, white pepper, clove, liquorice, dusty oak, tar and multifaceted black fruit. Even more intense than the '98 but finer and tighter in structure. Linear, electric palate that's perfectly balanced with a similarily perfect drawn-out finish. Equal to, if not better than the '98. Sublime wine."  Andrew Wood - Divine Magazine

"A change in personnel has brought a pleasing change in winemaking approach to this highly rated but still emergent young McLaren Vale label. Despite its typical concentration and richness, there's a vivacious brightness to its brambly, spicy dark fruit and it keeps well on the smart side of over-oaking or portiness. Its luxuriantly deep, dark, liqueur chocolate palate can't conceal a smoky oak influence, while its tannins are as fine as they are firm."  Jeremy Oliver - 95 points

"Sweet, tantalising and elegant scents of soft fruits and spices. There are dense, lush, bittersweet fruits, almost Amarone-like in style, but these lend the wine a complex, adult style which many of its peers lack. A sense of natural balance and unforced articulation."  Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine - 94 points

"Strong red-purple; the bouquet offers an abundance of sweet, ripe berry fruit, the palate ultra-typical of McLaren Vale, rich, with lots of chunky dark chocolate fruit in a big, thick frame. Drink Now - 2019."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 92 points

Impressive is the 1999 Shiraz Reserve, a 1,100-case cuvee aged 14 months in new American oak. The wine is a dense purple color, with a sweet, almost blackberry liqueur nose, and smoke, licorice, and oak in the background. Jammy and rich, with huge body, good purity, adequate acidity, and a long finish, this is an impressive, surprisingly large-scaled 1999. It should age well for 10-16 years. Drink:2001-2017."  Robert Parker, Wine Advocate - 92 points

About the winery

Fox Creek Wines is a winery located in the McLaren Vale region of South Australia. McLaren Vale is a highly regarded wine region known for its rich history, Mediterranean climate, and abundant sunshine, which provide ideal growing conditions for a wide variety of grapes.

Fox Creek Wines was established in 1984 when Helen and Dr Jim Watts purchased a 32 hectare property on Malpas Road in McLaren Vale. Going against popular advise at the time, they planted vines in the black clay soils that had previously been used for growing barley. A decade later their flagship shiraz won the Trophy for the best wine at the McLaren Vale Wine Show.  They won this award again in 1998 and 2003 and their Reserve Shiraz achieved international acclaim. Subsequently many of their wines have won trophies and medals at national and international wine shows.

Early in 2021 Helen Watts (at the tender age of 86) sold Fox Creek Wines to Ben Gibson, Jock Harvey and Dim Georgiadis, who are long-time friends and industry colleagues. The winemaker is Ben Tanzer.