Shiraz Tasting

Saturday evening was the Shiraz Tasting.

We tasted in four phases; a sparking to start, two wines to test the waters for people who werne't familiar with the varietal, a 5 bottle blind (listed below in rough preferred order), two nice older wines and an Austrailian (but not shiraz) port.

Phase One: MAJELLA Sparkling Shiraz Coonawarra 2003

Phase Two: JACOB'S CREEK Shiraz South Australia Reserve 2002, STEP RD. Shiraz Langhorne Creek 2003

Phase Three:MARQUIS PHILIPS Shiraz South Eastern Australia 2004, HENTLEY FARM Shiraz Barossa Valley 2004, THORN-CLARKE Shiraz Barossa Shotfire Ridge 2004, TORBRECK Shiraz Barossa Valley Woodcutter's 2004, THORN-CLARKE Shiraz Barossa Terra Barossa 2004

Phase Four: HARDYS Shiraz McLaren Vale Eileen Hardy 1997, HENSCHKE Shiraz Eden Valley Mount Edelstone Vineyard 1995 (so sad.)

Phase Five: JONESY Old Tawny Port NV

Mission: Successful. Tasting Achieved.

Editorial notes:

Eric and I went to MacArthur earlier in the day and procured the last of the wines we needed, making last minute substitutions, then to Whole Foods for some more pairing cheeses (including a great lavendar and anise chevre specifically to pair with the Eileen Hardy's). Eric came up with a system as above. I'd found a sparkling shiraz there (we'd been looking for one to no avail but I stumbled over it just by chance.. good stuff) so we started people out with that like you might do to start any party, tasted one mass produced relatively low-ender and a more unique one to warm up the palatte, followed by a 5 bottle blind of '04s (all but one were Barossa), the two older wines, and an Aussie Port.

The belles of the ball were the '03 Step Road Langhorn Creek ($20, though it was on sale, that was the unique one in the second phase), the surprising $13 Marquis Philps from the Southeast (the odd man out in the Barossa blind), and the lovely Eileen Hardy 1997 Barossa. Sadly, the '95 Henschke, the oldest and priciest of the lot, which was supposed to be phenomenal turned out to be corked. :(

The only thing I can say on this account is that at least we didnt' get the E&E Black Pepper and had that be corked. I might actually have cried. Also there was a brief mention of the Penfold's Grange and I'm likewise glad I didn't get that. See, given Murphy's law, no matter what high ender we got it would've ended up being the corked bottle. I was crushed enough that the nice 1995 Henschke turned out to be corked... not sure I couldn't survived that if it had been the Grange. The cork crumbled coming out and we ended up straining it into the decanter. As soon as I started pouring and got a whiff, I knew :(

Also, the food was phenomenal. What Epicurean friends I have! May end up posting something resembling actual tasting notes later if I can decipher my scrawls.