Nine Popes 1997

Charles Melton named this after a mistranslation: Châteauneuf-du-Pape read carelessly becomes new castle of the pope, or, to a Barossa ear, nine popes. The joke has a point, because the wine is a Rhône blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre made from old Barossa bushvines, and it was among the first Australian wines to argue that the Barossa’s future lay in that direction. The 1997 is fully mature: dried plum, leather, spice and sweet earth.