Technicals:

100% Shiraz, McLaren Vale, South Australia

Alcohol: 14.7% on their website, 14.5% on my bottle?

about $55 Fry’s (Kroger)

93 points, James Halliday Wine Companion 2008, Platinum award, Best of Class Gold Medal-2008 L.A. International Wine & Spirit Competition.

After 1 hour decanting, the nose was still fairly subdued.  Blackberry, black cherry.  On the palate very smooth, nice ripe blackberry and black cherry again.  I am getting a little tired of the over the top fruit bomb style of Shiraz, I am also getting tired of the massiveness of a lot of Shiraz on the market.   By massiveness I mean too much tannin too much oak too much alcohol heat.

Day 2.  24 hours later.  Superb.  Just a nice smooth extremely well balanced wine.  It’s not very complex but it is far more gentle than most of my recent Shiraz experiences.  Blackberries, I taste a lot of blackberries.  Just to make sure I went into the fridge and ate a couple of blackberries.  Affirmative, it’s blackberries.  Little bit of oak, no alcohol heat, a tiny bit of earthiness which I like.  I don’t like funky in your face earthiness.  I like the subtle kind of earthiness that if you breath out through your nose after a big sip, you can detect it.