Sami-Odi Little Wine #8 is our eighth rendition of ‘Little Wine’ and is assembled from five contrasting seasons and offers a relaxed feel akin to its predecessors, with just-ripe fruits and dried herbs foiled by a plush earthen belly and silken texture.
Its lifted aromatics and loose-knit nature make it conveniently approachable now and for my taste it's best enjoyed over the next year or two.
The two wines release this year (2019) will notably benefit from decanting and once opened will continue to unfold and develop complexities for many days, even weeks if kept in cool conditions. Winery Notes
There were 24 barrels of this wine produced, a smaller release than last year (2018). As always, a blend of vintages, “the struggle is always ripeness and acidity”, offers the ever-thoughtful vigneron Fraser McKinley. Interestingly, there is a component of the Little Wine #7 that finds its way into this wine, “I drained two barrels off of the #7; I’ve had a fun time with it, but it’s also a kind of way of lending more detail, taking the wine more seriously”. - Wine Front Interview with Fraser McKinley
"This year sees an exacting blend of 2018 (48%), 2017 (29%), 2016 (12%), 2015 (9%) and 2012 (2%) vintages.
This is so good. It’s not just the shape of the wine, the inviting perfume, the cornucopia of flavours, but the general sense of compulsion to drink. And drink. Violets, exotic spice, game meat, pepper/dried green herb and dark berries/plums greet from the bouquet. A suppleness up front in the palate, that soothing swish of dark fruit, cool acidity, then light peppery spice weaves its way in and there’s the detail… earth, mineral, elemental things, and a shuffle of ultra-fine, high class threads of velour tannin. Elegance might be a good word but the depth of flavour, grunty, red-earth-on-blue-King-Gee-work-shirt character and dripping generosity of true-blue Barossa is peering under the veil of the wine. Hard to find better from the region."
97+ Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, January 2019, Drink: 2019 - 2019-2028+
