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shiraz
Mitolo’s Jester’s no joke: A funny thing happened on the way to the throne room.
2006 Mitolo Shiraz Jester (McLaren Vale)
The Mitolo winery takes its fun seriously. The silliest thing on their labels is a Jester of the classical kind in suit of motley colors, belled hat and a fake scepter. This kind of joker goes back to before Shakespeare, a professional funny man hired to amuse and mock the court and king, with license to be truthful and mirthful, a precariously fine line.
It’s a clever image for wines; like Mitiolo’s Jester Shiraz ($15.99), a playful wine with soft approach, but ultimately straightforward and powerful. For extra grins, Mitolo’s back label honors a real jester, Richard Tarlton who was Queen Elizabeth’s favorite jokester and possibly the first comedian to become a superstar.
Given the royal standards for wit, I’d say the chances are slim for a 2108 Aussie shiraz dedicated to Adam Sandler.
2005 Bacchantes ‘The Dancer’ Shiraz Gomersal Vineyard (Barossa, Australia)
2005 Bacchantes 'The Dancer' Shiraz Gomersal Vineyard (Barossa) 14.99
No contest. This fat and juicy shiraz wine knows it can dance tonight and 10 years from now. And leap and twirl, wearing a perfume of blackberry, fennel and pepper, surprisingly delicate and poised for such a voluptuous wine with strong backbone. Credit that to its single-vineyard roots in 120-year old Gomersal and young partner Ben Glaetzer, Oz winemaker of the year in many books, and the first Aussie to collect 100 pts. from Parker. A rich taste of Glatezer style for pennies.
91 Points, Chris Sherman
Staff Selection, July 2010
Que syrah will be schizophrenic: Fruit bomb or black olives and sage?
2003 Guigal Hermitage Rouge (Rhone) 79.99
California syrah is over, the New York Times declared earlier this month. Wineries made too much, too soon and the public lost interest. Besides American winemakers made the wrong kind of syrah.
To oversimplify, the divide is between northern Rhone and Australia, or the aristocracy and the rabble.
The style of Hermitage and Cote-Rotie is nobly complex, tasting of black olives, bacon fat, herbs and forest, moderate in alcohol and best grown in cool climate.
The other and lesser style, the argument goes, is the jammy fruit bomb of Oz, sweet, over ripe, high in alcohol and grown in too hot an area.
Well, yes and also no. Sure we’ve leapt into syrah too much and too quickly. Syrah is overplanted and some of it is shoddy, red plonck of the moment that could be merlot or a cheap cab. That’s why syrah is in financial trouble, just too much of it. Happens with any trend bumper crop.
Yet after 20 years many growers do well with syrah and yes they follow both styles, sweet and sour. That’s much clearer than, say, the infinitely malleable chardonnay.
Vive la difference.
Some folks love black cherries and raspberries spiked with cinnamon, pepper and licorice. I bet they are in the majority. And we make some fine ones.
2005 Linne Calodo Rising Tides (Paso Robles) 59.99
For those with a taste for thorny freshness and earthy complexity, black olives, smoke, bay laurel and the rough mountain underbrush of garrigue and gorse, there are other choices and B-21 stocks them.
The Times saluted ten they considered a valiant few following the northern Rhone route, including Copain Wine Cellars in Healdsburg.
Right on. We have three of Copain’s single-vineyard syrahs from the 2005 vintage, the top being the smoky Thompson Vineyard from Santa Barbara ($39.99) which Parker accorded a 94.
We‘d also commend the good people of DuMol up in the chill of the Russian River Valley whose syrah regularly score in the mid-90s (and cost more). And you’ve got to try the adventurous Rhonesters at Linne Calodo on the west side of Paso Robes: we have five of their syrahs ($33.99 to $69.99) high-scoring and full of spice.
Not to mention Washington State where Charles Smith found enough bramble, herbs, game and roasted meat spice in syrah to be Food & Wine’s winemaker of the year last year.
It’s way too early to give up on American syrah.
Or as the no-worries makers of shiraz say, “She’ll be right, mate.”
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
What were we drinking: Open-faced cheeseburgers and zucchini chips
Actually it wasn’t we, just me bach’ing for a while and left to my most evil inclinations like burgers NOT made from lean ground beef. Nope these were as fatty as nature intended, with a sharp Polish cheese, roasted garlic and whole grain mustard. For the vitamin counters there was frilly lettuce and a sliced zucchini, crisped up in the skillet with pepper and herbs.
In short, the Lonely Guy’s Dream Dinner with a modest amount of pretension.
2007 Wolf Blass Shiraz/Cabernet (South Australia) Reg: 9.99 On Sale: 7.99
But I respect hamburgers. Luscious, red and juicy and in Guy cuisine, not that far from a steak.
To Guys, a good burger calls for a steak wine; to call for a lightweight red is dissing the burger. And any good steak wine is happy to dance with beef in all forms.
My answer was Wolf Blass’s 2006 Gold Label shiraz ($17.99) from Barossa. This one was fat with flavor, berries and plums with hints of licorice and smoke. Not monstrous in weight or harshness, despite a full load of alcohol (15.5%) a very luscious drink.
It would have liked an inch-thick Delmonico — and it made the burger taste just as rich.
The Wine Speculator puts it at 91, and I agree. Especially at $17.99. You need a couple.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Trumps again: Harvey Steiman lifts a glass to Charles Cimicky
2008 Charles Cimicky Trumps Shiraz (Barossa) $14.99
Harvey Steiman took a trip through Australian reds and among his 90 pointers was our fave from Barossa’s most serious winemaker, Charles Cimicky’s Shiraz Trumps.
“A juicy mouthful of plum, berry and tobacco flavors, hinting at clove and nutmeg as the finish lingers effortlessly. Drink now through 2018.”
We agree, this is a ripe shiraz, big on fruit and earthier flavors, and a keeper for the cellar. Only thing off is Wine Spectator tags the price as $19. C’mon down to B-21; it’s only $14.99.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Nibbler’s Pick: 2008 Morse Code Shiraz
2008 Morse Code Shiraz
2008 Morse Code Shiraz (Padthaway, Australia)
SALE: 8.99
“Invite this Aussie shiraz to the barbie this weekend. Pure ripe fruit explodes in holiday fireworks: Red cherries, white pepper and blueberries. A blast in a bottle.”
90 Points!
Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
Many Shades of Shiraz: 2005 Bacchantes The Dancer
2005 Bacchantes 'The Dancer' Shiraz (Barossa) $14.99
Wow, the image on the label is shy and graceful but this shiraz is so juicy and lusty it should be Dancing with the Stars.
Which is not to say classless. No sequins here. His is elegant stuff with a grand posture bursting with black fruits and a touch of white pepper. This shiraz is from an old vineyard in the Barossa called Gomersal, and the finest new-generation winemaker, Ben Glaetzer. Anything from Glaetzer is high on my list, and Parker thinks so too.
Not to mention that 2005 is an Australian vintage to savor.
It’s also brought to us by Bacchus Wine, a smart small importer who brings us Glaetzer’s Amon-Ra, Charles Cimicky Kaesler, Mitolo and other prestigious labels from well beyond the Yellowtail range.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
The many shades of shiraz: Strong Arms
2008 Strong Arms Shiraz (South Australia) $9.99
In Australian hands and climates, shiraz has a strong character and yet infinite expressions.
The Grateful Palate crowd and resident genius Chris Ringland bring us many faces of shiraz under a variety of stage names.
Strong Arms 2008 ($12.99) seems one of their humbler, more civilized performers yet it captivates me.
Perhaps it’s the Mel Kadel paintings of hard-wroking women that are so fetching.
What’s in the bottle, came of age in a rich and ripe year down under. It could have been aggressively full bodied, but instead its richness — 15% alcohol and still a residual sweetness — is restrained. Soft in texture, brimming with plummy fruit, this is elegant stuff, that survives every day with charm and heart intact.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
South Africa’s Jam Jar: This one’s a sweetie.
2009 Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz $9.99
Most of you will laugh at this wine without tasting it. Getouttahere.
The rest of you, listen up, especially the brave individuals who say, “Honestly, I don’t like dry wine”, and those of you who are ashamed to admit it. If you ever pucker up and make a face, “Ewwwww, red wine is sour” while your friends turn up their noses at you; this wine is for you. Without shame or fear, the label on the 2009 Jam Jar ($9.99) says “SWEET SHIRAZ,” as if the name and red-checked picnic cloth trim weren’t plain enough.
It is sweeter than any red this side of Lambrusco, but not sickly, thickly sweet, simply a well made and balanced wine that chooses to keep some of its residual sugar. That’s what most wine did throughout history.
There’s gobs of fruit, like a pile of ripe berries spiked with a touch of black pepper with a in a puddle of chocolate, and those flavors matter more than the sugar. The wine has a decent structure, fat texture and a pleasant finish. It‘s rather like a good ruby port without the alcohol punch.
Don’t consider this a dessert wine, it deserves to come to dinner, with beef stew, barbecued chicken, pasta and tomato sauce, and even lamb chops.
If that‘s sacrilege, who cares, there’s plenty of unsweet wine for the faithful. However, more than half of Americans don’t like contemporary wine, and what they don’t like is the dryness. Which is why it got big play on the Today show as well as a 90 from WS.
For this rare attempt to serve this neglected majority, give thanks to Cape Classics on the western Cape and the distribution are of Opici, which knows from real-people wine.
I knew it was a good idea, when I had a bottle on wine rack — and so did the wine bar at Seasons 52. About time someone hit this sweet spot.
- Chris Sherman, The Blogging Nibbler
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2008 Morse Code Shiraz (Padthaway, South Australia)
2008 Morse Code Shiraz (Padthaway, Australia) $8.99
“The latest dispatch from the good-hearted folks on Henry’s Drive (the home of Pillar Box) is more fruit basket than telegram, very ripe fruit, and at bumper crop prices. All shiraz in old fashioned, no- pretense Oz fashion, well-met all around the barbie, Intense concentration of cherries, blueberries and all that razz is spiced with a touch of pepper and mint,. unhindered by oak. Smooth and happy on the tongue and all the way on. You’ll go through a case in a month. Buy now STOP Drink now STOP Buy more STOP.