Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - syrah/shiraz tag

Jean-Luc Colombo, 'La Violette', Vin de Pays d'Oc, Syrah, 2005

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:51:18 GMT

Here's another one from my quest for that decent $10 bottle of wine. Something good enough to drink with dinner without costing a fortune.

The nose was plum and veggie -- brocoli, saw dust, pepper, mineral, and asparagus. The taste was black cherry and plum, earth, and artichoke. The finish was plum, mineral, and green bean. It was slightly metallic (but not in a bad way).

This wine was very much fruit forward, and then it just dissolves into mineral, earth, and vegetable. It's not that syrupy sweet syrah at all. Quite good. It's always interesting to read the notes on the bottle afterward. What they describe as "cigar", I thought was a bit chemical -- but maybe it's a bit inbetween the two. They also note liquorice and incense; I can accept that.

Cost:

Rating: 6.0

Shingleback, McLaren Vale, Shiraz, 2004

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:41:01 GMT

The nose is bark and wet saw dust. Like wet soil. Smells like rain. Rained on wood chips. The taste is oak, plum, raisin, and dried cherries. The finish is definitely prune and vanilla. It's like a vanilla cream soda ... seriously!

It's very smooth and quiet in your mouth; the oak makes it that way. It has none of that mineral -- terroir -- we've been having lately with old world wines. It's very drinkable, yet it's just not as interesting as similar wines from France or Italy. Despite all this, it was very far from horrible, just not memorable.

Cost:

Rating: 7.0

Penfolds, 'Koonunga Hill', Shiraz Cabernet, 2006

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:33:55 GMT

Penfolds has been around a long time, and they make wines in a broad range of prices. Some, like the 'Grange' can be very expensive, while others are just table wine level (we reviewed a 1997 'St. Henry' Shiraz earlier). I've been a long-time fan of Penfolds. I have to admit that one of those bottles that started me into wine was a 1996 Penfolds, Bin 389.

But this is not that. This is one of the cheap Penfolds. This bottle is a surprising $10, especially considering that the store sign advertised that some place-of-repute gave it a score of 91! We're always looking for that unobtainable holy grail: great wine at a cheap price. So it was hard not to buy it (which I of course did).

The nose is very floral: hyacinth and lavender. There also some subtle vegetable matter, probably eggplant.Tastes of moss and floral. The fruit is predominantly jammy boysenberry. But also red cherry, and pomegranate. The finish is sort of a bad perfume. Pomegranate pucker and cedar.

The conclusion: Denise liked it, and I didn't. For me, it was too sweet. It's not really sweet as wines go, but it's that sweet Shiraz (if you've had it, you know what I mean). Denise gave it a 6; and me, it was a 5. Hence the compromise at 5.5.

Cost:

Rating: 5.5

Guilhem Duran, Vin de Pays d'Hauterive, Syrah, 2005

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:00:00 GMT

Smell: Vanilla and maple. Cookies. Totally butterscotch!

Taste: Vanilla extract and a little peppery. Feels like a firey, spicy clove -- stings the tongue.

Finish: Butterscotch.

Cost:

Ratings: 7.5