The 2009 Henry's Drive Morse Code Shiraz, Padthway is, I suppose, all you can expect from a daily drinker from Down Under. Nothing to complain about with regards to the deep, lush color. A cup of the ubiquitous dark fruit (I used blackberry, feel free to substitute blueberry or black cherry if that's all you have), a tablespoon of spice, a scant teaspoon of cured meat and a pinch of citric acid and you've got the recipe for this one. To its credit, the wine sees no new oak and the tannins are negligible. Although the wine does not fall into the category of the syrupy, low acid/high alcohol Shiraz that Australia was so (in)famous for a decade ago, the fruit/acid balance here seems a bit, um, manipulated - kind of like sucking on a piece of sour candy. About $10
Perfectly decent with a jerk seasoned pork tenderloin grilled over my new favorite culinary discovery - coconut shell charcoal.
B,
ReplyDeleteI know this wine. The same juice is inside the bottle I had last night. Except mine was covered in an D'Arenberg Stump Jump label.
Hmmm...
So Georgia is almost as good as Navy this year....
I never have understood that wine or how it consistently gets 90 point ratings from all the magazines. I've had a few bottles over the past 8-10 years and I've never enjoyed it. Years ago, it was incredibly overripe, flabby and jammy. Then it became more like you described - tart and acidic.
ReplyDeleteIt was so bad a few years ago (back in the jammy stage) that my friends and I used to refer to it as the "Dump Junk."