Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz 2002

Gold Medal - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2004
Gold Medal - International Wine Challenge of Asia 2004 

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.

"There's a wonderful depth and brightness of pristine, perfectly ripened blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, with underlying notes of briar, menthol and white pepper. Add a smooth, velvet texture, some perfectly married vanilla and Swiss milk chocolate-like oak, plus a firm, assertive cut of fine tannins, and you have a recipe certain to please a multitude of shiraz drinkers."  Jeremy Oliver

"An awesome wine. It has great depth of colour, aroma and flavour typical of the best wines of the McLaren Vale region. The wine has an extraordinary range of flavours including blackberry, blackcurrant, licorice and dark chocolate. There is a long finish. Although approachable now it is suitable for long term cellaring."  Fox Creek

Expert reviews

"The Reserve is a full-blooded Aussie Shiraz that's gregarious and generous and has the most amazing slinky mouthfeel. 'Sexy' is a descriptor often used by wine writers (myself included) and I cannot think of a more apt term for the Fox Creek Reserve. Sex in a bottle? You betcha! How much more thick, fleshy, sweet fruit can you cram into a wine? I reckon this would be getting as close to the limit without the wine being porty or jammy. Even more amazing is that the bloody thing has the structural framework behind it to ensure that it is no slushy fruit bomb. On the contrary, the wine finishes with extraordinary polish and refinement. Has the best of both worlds: the fruit richness of 98 and the racy structure of the 99. The best Reserve to date? It would have to be an odds-on favourite."  Andrew Wood - Divine Magazine

"Its present winemaking team of Chris Dix and Tony Walker, working with viticulturists Paul Watts and Nick Wiltshire, has created another head turner from the cooler, later season of 2002. At 15% alcohol by volume, it's no shrinking violet. Sure, there's some alcoholic warmth and there's certainly some cinnamon cake-like, spicy currant tar-like flavours, suggesting at least a portion of the fruit was picked extremely ripe. But there's a wonderful depth and brightness of pristine, perfectly ripened blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, with underlying notes of briar, menthol and white pepper. Add a smooth, velvet texture, some perfectly married vanilla and Swiss milk chocolate-like oak, plus a firm, assertive cut of fine tannins, and you have a recipe certain to please a multitude of shiraz drinkers from both the schools I mentioned earlier."  Jeremy Oliver, QANTAS Magazine

"Firm, long and very smooth shiraz that holds its 15% of alcohol with relative ease. Its peppery, spicy fragrance is a complex one, with briary blackberry, cassis and slightly meaty aromas of dark olives offset by sweet milk chocolate and vanilla oak. Very intense and assertive, its long, smooth palate of deep blackberry, redcurrant and dark plum flavours is bound by fine, yet firm tannins. There's some spirity warmth, plus a suggestion of tarry, spicy currant-like flavour. Long and complete, it finishes with just a hint of mint and menthol. Drink 2010-2014+."  Jeremy Oliver - 93 points

"Densely coloured; rich, plush blackberry, dark chocolate and vanilla; good balance in epic style. Drink by 2017."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 92 points

Awards

Gold Medal - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2004
Gold Medal - International Wine Challenge of Asia 2004 

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.