10 January 2005 2002 Zinfandel, Nepenthe, Adelaide Hills, South Australia £14.99, Sainsbury's I was so thrilled by the 2000 vintage of this wine that this year I actually went out to Nepenthe, high up in the hills above Adelaide, to try to work out how they did it. It was a beaut trip, but I'm none the wiser. The Adelaide Hills are cool and damp, just right for snappy white grapes like Sauvignon Blanc. But Zinfandel is a big, hot-climate beast. How can it possibly ripen amid the mist and drizzle of the Hills? Not that I care, I'm just curious – and I suppose if I keep on visiting, one day they'll tell me. Ok – the wine. Sensational. It isn't quite as rich and exotic as the 2000, but is perhaps a touch more approachable by ordinary mortals. Oh, I don't know – because there's simply no wine in Australia like it. It's unnervingly rich, with all Zinfandel's typical fig syrup, date and brown sugar richness – but at Nepenthe they seem to shovel in loganberries and strawberries too, fistfuls of herbs and damp leaves (think of autumn) and finish it off with a sweet-sour flavour like leather splashed with lime juice. As I said – nothing else like it. Taken from Oz Clarke's Wine Buying Guide 2005 Printable Tasting Sheet