While we have been enjoying the beach and the golf for some 7 weeks we also managed to try quite a few wines, some of them we mentioned in our trips to Barossa, McLaren Vale and Yarra.
One of the outstanding wines we tried was the Torbreck Woodcutters Shiraz 2003 which was rated a 90 by James Halliday. All of the Torbreck wines we have sampled were excellent and the Woodcutters was great value for price. We bought this wine for the winecellar. Check Ed at Devines for the details. We previously bought the Struie for the cellar as well.
We enjoyed several Grant Burge wines – the 2003 Nebuchadnezzar Shiraz-Cab, the 2004 Miamba Shiraz and the 2000 Meschak Shiraz. All of these wines impressed us, the Miamba, which was tasted at one of the club events a while back, is excellent value for the reasonable price cost. The Nebuchadnezzar needs time but should evolve nicely. The Meschak was still quite tannic, great fruit, and would be worth putting away for a special occasion in 5 years or so.
Some of the easy drinking wines we tried included the 2002 Brokenwood Cricket Pitch, which was just so-so, the Cockfighters Ghost (McLaren Vale) was a bit jammy, but had good fruit and we enjoyed it. Moondah Brook (WA) makes a very nice Verdelho, and Marcia was particularly fond of that one. We all enjoyed some nice rose wines, including the Mrs. Wigley from Wirra Wirra. This is outstanding and would be great drinking on a hot day.
Marcia and Rashid brought us a bottle of Charles Melton “The Father-In-Law”Shiraz (around $32) and this is an excellent wine. Don’t know if it is available in Edmonton but worth buying if you can find it.
The Two Hands “Gnarly Dudes” 2003 was really excellent, and I hope that Wade brings in more of this at the Wine Cellar.
Marcia and Rashid also were taken with the Hazyblur Shiraz from Kangaroo Island. Not sure if this is in Edmonton, but most of their wine goes to North America.
Also tried the 2002 Hillside Shiraz from Kay Brothers Amery (McLaren Vale) this wine will likely cost around $40. but has excellent potential for cellaring.
Hope to see you all at the tasting on March 27 and I will be glad to update you on any questions then.
Marty