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The Colonial Estate Explorateur Old Vine Shiraz 2005

June 1, 2008 By Shea Leave a Comment

A highly rated Parker wine from Aussie-land. This generally makes me think twice since I find he and I rarely agree on Australia. This, however, was a quality example of excellent Barossa shiraz that questioned the acuity of my perceptions of Parker’s Aussie ratings.

Jammy blackberry and plush dark fruits like fig and plum filled both the nose and the palate. A little air also exposed some excellent chocolatey richness in the mid-palate. This was big but balanced, and with a long-ish finish that left you wanting more. Another classic well made Barossa shiraz.

Excellent
$44 at BCLDB
Filed Under: $40-$60, Australian Wine, Excellent, Shiraz

Spinifex Indigene 2005

April 18, 2008 By Shea 2 Comments

For all the talk these days of restraint in wine sometimes life just calls for a big boned flavour packed bottle. And, as much as I appreciate a huge diversity of wines and have learned to love lots of old-world style, acidity, and earthiness, my wine roots are a bit different and I can’t seem to shake my love for the big stuff. This wine was an homage to that and a perfect match for a couple of fantastic sausages from Oyama on Granville Island.

I was kind of curious about the name of this winery after hearing some grumblings about it at a wine store. Looking it up on Wikipedia provided the info that Spinifex is a type of grass that grows in Australia that has many traditional uses for Australia’s Aboriginal peoples. It’s also a kind of Australian Pigeon. Which one of these is the wine chanelling, I wonder?

A very forward cherry and strawberry candy-fest. We’re not talking loads of complexity here, but certainly this has tremendous depth and integrity and, while full of fruit, is also nicely balanced. A beautiful BBQ wine mixed with 55% Mataro (Mourvedre) and 45% Shiraz. A hint of spice on the finish, with good length and a distinct mocha element when paired with my coq-au-vin sausage. It would be unfair to call this simply a fruit bomb. This is really just a very well made Barossa wine with classic Barossa fruit done well – and no hint of pigeon.

Very Good+
$48 at Marquis

Filed Under: $40-$60, Australian Wine, Mourvedre, Shiraz, Very Good

Majella Sparkling Shiraz 2005

February 15, 2008 By Shea 2 Comments

It was a foamy red-pink Valentine’s last night with a bottle of the 2005 Majella Sparkling Shiraz, which I first had the opportunity to taste at least year’s Vancouver International Wine Festival. I met the winemaker at the show and his personality definitely shows in the wine: buoyant, exhuberant and over the top. This is pretty fun stuff and well suited for a lovers tryst.

The nose is spritely and very berry-heavy. The wine has a great creamy texture, perhaps assisted by the small amount of port that is mixed in. The bubbles give it great freshness and the palate is alive with fruit such as black current and black berry, structured by a tinge of mineral flavours. If anything, this will wake up the mouth and put you in a good mood. Tasty stuff.

Excellent
$40 at BCLDB


Filed Under: $40-$60, Australian Wine, Excellent, Shiraz

Henry’s Drive Dead Letter Office Shiraz 2005

January 13, 2008 By Shea Leave a Comment

I wanted a glass tonight while studying so I opened this Australian Shiraz I bought in the summer. This is mega-bomb super-intense Australian Shiraz, but is definitely a cut above the average.

The nose gives up very strong notes of candied cherry, and is simple if not intense. The palate is over the top, with the wine tasting of super-dark fruit, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and pepper. The wine is very juicy, and comes in at an incredible 16% alcohol, but it is not as ‘hot’ as I would expect for such high alcohol levels.

The wine is not incredibly complex, but it has a beautiful fruit forwardness and is great for the price. I like the integration, but this is not what I would call ‘refined’. Over time the wine becomes a little less tasty because of its simplicity. If you aren’t into fruit-bombs, maybe take the rating down a notch. However, if you are definitely give this a try – it is probably worth the
money.

[Edit: I've had a few more glasses of this over the last couple days and I have revised my opinion. It is just too simple to warrant the original rating I gave it. Still enjoyable, but definitely deserving of a lesser rating]

Good+
$35 at BCLDB

Filed Under: $30-$40, Australian Wine, Good, Shiraz

Richard Hamilton Centurion Old Vine Shiraz 2002

December 5, 2007 By Shea Leave a Comment

Continuing the trend of pairing one dose of boring exam studying with one dose of tasty vino, I opened another one of my cellared wines tonight. The Centurion Shiraz is made from 110 year old vines and hails from the McLaren Vale. 2002 was a great year in southern Australia and this wine proves that a good vintage can really add a lot of character to a wine. This is pleasantly not a typical shiraz, and although it had a fairly closed nose, the palate brought forward great flavours of cherry, chocolate and spice with a lot of structure and character. That said, it could use a more complex development of flavours and a longer, more developed finish to bring it to the ‘next level’. I think, once again, that it would improve with age, but probably not extraordinarily so. It’s still really tasty and probably justifies the price (given that it’s BC and all prices are grossly inflated by taxes). Once again Australia proves that it can produce much more than jammy sugary shiraz.

Very Good+
$45 at BCLDB (ALthough I don’t thnk they have any left)

Filed Under: $40-$60, Australian Wine, Shiraz, Very Good
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