This Rhone-style 50/50 blend of Shiraz and Grenache comes from the McLaren Vale's most reknowned producer of premium Shiraz and Rhone blends. Fruit was sourced from old vines in their own 19th century vineyards, and was vinified by traditional methods such as basket-pressing and foot-treading before being matured for 12 or more months in a combination of French and American oak.
The wine is a brilliant, deep garnet color, with a hint of brick at the edge. A whiff of alcohol up front blew off quickly with air to reveal a tight, but alluring nose of kirsch, raspberry, pepper, Provencal herbs, and crushed gravel. The wine is focused and intense on the palate, with great acidity and ripe-but-firm tannins - clearly just beginning to come into it's own. Complex flavors ran the the gauntlet through cherry liqueur, mixed blue/black/razz/and strawberry jam, plum, pepper, thyme, cloves, smoky sage, dark cocao, star anise, and mineral. Heck, I'll even throw a little pomegranate in for good measure! Pronounced smoked meat, bacon fat, and tarry earth accents come into play with air and warmth, and the finish is a long interplay between fruit, meat, spice, and those grippy tannins, lingering on herbal notes.
I write with great enthusiasm on $10 wines that provide a quality, casual drink. At $15.99, this wine is of a higher order that few lower-priced offerings ever touch. This is a refined and polished effort that really bulls-eyes the Rhone inspiration of the blend with nice garrigue and smoked meat notes. The fruit flavors are deep and intense, pairing with the complex accents to put the oak influence completely in the background. With great acidity and tannic structure, this wine is still developing four years off the vine, and will only get better with more time in the bottle. It was a pleasure to sample this one over several hours and watch the flavor profile change in the glass. Highly recommended!
0 comments:
Post a Comment