Maybe I’m perverse but I’ve been rejecting the big Aussie shiraz favoured by Robert Parker of late. I’m trying to dump my 1990 Grange (offers?) with the skanky label. And I’ve migrated to Italians, for the most part.
Then one night at the Mr Wolf Bar, with an Aussie returned from Europe, we hit the Heathcote shiraz. Not any shiraz but one that was crushed in baskets (we’re all into that artisan stuff nowadays, aren’t we?) which is a tooth dying rich, rich red.
It gives a whiff of compost or vegetal as the French might say. It has long rich flavours with a hint of coffee, chocolate and cherry. Jackie reckoned it had, in a good way, a medicinal quality. That could be the 14 per cent alcohol. I reckoned it was Spanish in style. Whatever, its great value for $20. The only problem is it’s limited release through restaurants and the Price Wine Store in Melbourne. This is what Ben Canaider wrote about the guys who made the stuff last year.
