Doncaster Estate Shiraz 10

Well, it is already time for Australian 2010 vintages to arrive. Remember that their season is half a year ahead, so you could compare it to a 2009 1/2 from the Northern Hemisphere. This one appears to be bottled in American Canyon, Ca? So, it may be shipped here in bulk to be bottled.

The bottle says it is from South Eastern Australia and it a great place to grow this variety. "Bright berry fruit characters on the nose give way to rich soft fruits on the palate, supported with a firm tannin structure and light oak notes." Make sure you enjoy it responsibly with friends and eat it with a barbie or blah blah. 13.9% alcohol. This bottle has a screw cap.

The color is fairly light and the nose does have soft berry notes. The wine is light on the palate (or less charitably THIN) and does give way to a firmer finish. There is a pleasing peppery taste that is characteristic of Shiraz/Syrah. The initial tastes are best, since the wine does not get more complex and seems to have a bit of harsh sulfide treatment?

It is tough to be too critical of a wine you can pick up for $3.99. It does belong in the below $10 group, but is is a good deal? I would not run out and buy a case, but if you can't pay more than $4 for a bottle this is drinkable.

Silver Lake Merlot 06

Responding to a request for something local, we picked up this Washington State wine. Local? They even have a tasting room in Woodinville, Wa!

It's easy to look down on Merlot wines after Sideways berated them and the rebound from extreme popularity in the 90's when we started drinking wine. We might prefer a Cabernet, but the variety of grape just might be why this one is discounted!

Rattlesnake Hills is a well respected appellation. The bottle says: "Rich with blackberry and black cherry aromas, this wine is characteristically supple on the palate with a long lingering finish that makes it the perfect wine to serve with blah blah." 13.9% Alcohol.

Nice dark purple color in the glass. We agree with the Cherry and Blackberry on the nose and on the palate. This wine is quite smooth with berry dominating leading to a light oak, strong tannins, and red meat (that's what our guest said... :^) ) on the finish. The wine is distinctly Merlot, but big enough to please us.

At $4.99, this is a good deal found for $14 elsewhere. If you like a Merlot, hurry over to Gross Out because this one is disappearing from their displays.

3 Blind Moose Cab 08

We felt like having a funny "blind" taste test. The name and label are pretty funny. So we go into this tasting with low expectations.

The bottle is one of those cheap ones with almost no dimple on the bottom. The foil has a nice moose on top drinking a glass. Under the foil is a very short plastic cork. The bottle says "we think you will fall for our Cabernet Sauvignon , whose rich cherry, cassis, and subtle oak (unnoticeable) flavors match beautifully with everything." (Really, everything??) 13.5% Alcohol.

The color in the glass is a nice red, but we can see the wine is fairly thin. It does not produce any "fingers" when swirled. The nose is faint, but has an agreeable berry scent. On the palate, we mainly identified currant and chokecherry. This wine is thin and shows no complexity. The finish is smooth and doesn't exhibit any tannin or oak. It drinks like cool-aid.

At $4.99, we are glad we didn't pay the $12.99 comparison price for the fun of having a pun on the label. Clever marketing and we did fall for it. This would not make good cooking wine since it doesn't have much taste.

Perrin & Fils Cotes Du Rhone Villages 09

This wine is one of our standard buys at Costco. It is a 50/50 Syrah/Grenache. It has been rated 90 points by Wine Spectator for the 2007 vintage. We have actually tasted them side by side and the 2009 does not measure up to the earlier vintage. If you are lucky, you can find a few bottles of the 2007 in displays, but they are really disappearing at our local stores. We are not sure why we never see the 2008 vintage...

The bottle says: "aromas of small berry fruit, such as black currants and blackberries, with licorice and spices are part of a well rounded and silky ensemble." 13% Alcohol by vol. This bottle has a natural cork. The addition of the "Villages" to the appellation is supposed to be more prestigious, since only 20% of the region is allowed to add it.

We found the 2009 vintage to have a light bouquet with a touch of dark berry. It has a pleasant medium color. We think the wine has a sulfide or tannin problem. The taste on the palate had very little berry and the tannins were forward (on the forward sides of the tongue.) We agree with the bottle that there is licorice and spices (and sulfites.) This vintage is not very big or complex. There was some payoff with a Syrah peppery finish.

In the past vintages, we have found this wine to be quite smooth and drinkable and one of our reliable standards. The Costco price is just under $10. We have been finding better value wines equal to Perrin & Fils at Gross Out. Bottom line, look for a different vintage or completely different ticket.

Fly Shiraz 09

We know that wines with animals on the label sell better(?), but "Fly"? This wine has a fly fishing theme to the label, so if you are a fan of that pastime, this might really sound great. The (Mc)Fly theme almost convinced us to pass this one up at our local Gross Out, but we tried it out. This is another line from Aussie Vineyards importers.

The bottle drones on about Fly fishing, then it doesn't describe the wine at all. 13.8% alcohol (wow, they always seem to hit that mark...) The bottle has a screw cap and has a dimple between 12 Apostles and Tamborine, so you might expect a mid price wine.

We were pleasantly surprised by this wine. It had a deep color in the glass. The nose was light with a hint of oak. The wine on the palate was smooth up front with some spice on the finish. It was quite drinkable like a "light" version of Rosemount Shiraz with more berry.

At $3.99, we thought this was a good deal and will look to pick up a couple of bottles.

12 Apostles Shiraz 09

This wine is a much like the Cab of the same year. Again, it is a cheaper made bottle and has the low three buck price point at Gross Out. The bottle says that it has a bold introduction and finishes with finesse. "Aromas of dark berry and licorice fill the palate ahead of fine oak tannins." Well, maybe...

The color in the glass was a lighter purple. The nose had noticeable fruit with a little vinegar. We found the initial palate to be light berry with stronger tannins in the finish. A bit of the spice you expect in Shiraz, but not distinct pepper.

At $2.99, it almost has to be fairly priced if you can drink it. We certainly place it above the common Yellow Tail, but not close to the Rosemount standard. We will not buy this again.

Cliff Edge Shiraz 03

This wine is from Mt Langi Ghiran in Victoria, Australia. We picked it up since you don't see many 2003 in Gross Out.

The bottle says "this complex blend of our best vineyard sites offers dark berry fruit flavors of blackberry and liquorice with subtle spices and toasted oak notes. Fine tannins are supported by generous fruit and persistent acidity." This bottle had a screw cap. 15% Alcohol. (Higher than any we have seen from Australia.)

We drank this wine over two days and had quite different opinions for the two glasses. The first day we felt it was not complex (bland) and too bitter. The color is quite dark in the glass. The nose improved to nice berry notes on the second day. The taste was light berry and graphite with a strong finish. After breathing, it was much better, but still had strong tannins punching the back sides of the tongue. The experience was much more like a Cab than a Shiraz.

At $6.99, this is a more expensive bottle for Gross Out and had a hard to believe markdown from $35(?). So, we expected more from it and it really only delivered the second day. The obvious advice is that this needs decanting to open up. My wife enjoyed this wine more than I did, so we have a split decision.

Coorong Shiraz

I think the name is supposed to remind us of Coonawarra. The bottle says "Coorong" means "long neck" and refers to the long peninsula that runs along the southern part of Australia. This bottle gets a Limestone Coast appellation. It also has a "Reserve" marking that can signify the best from a winery. Interestingly this was bottled by Wine Trees, American Canyon, Ca. So it may have been shipped bulk(?).

We found this wine to have deep red color and a very light nose. There was not any huge berry taste and only a little of the pepper taste we like so much in Shiraz. The tannin and oak of a big red were the main features. My wife liked this one more than I did. We put it in the drinkable category, but not very far in...

At $4.99, this was a not a great deal compared to some others at Gross Out. Certainly not a winning ticket.

Tamborine Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Tamborine wines 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, no it's not a Shatner tribute wine (although they do have a Dan Aykroyd wine in the store right now), it is an Australian import currently at Gross Out in Washington.

The bottle says it is from the Coonawarra region on the East Coast of Australia with views of the Gold Coast and Pacific Ocean. It should be paired with hard cheeses or red meat dishes. There are no real details on the wine or wine makers other than it is produced by Aussie Vineyards. 13.8% Alcohol.

The color was an agreeable clear deep red. We found the wine to have aggressive fruit on the nose and on the first taste. Blackberry and cherry were more evident than typical for Cab. The tannins were fairly light and there was very little oak. The wine had a slightly "fizzy" feel that we have mainly experienced with newer, unfiltered homemade wines. We felt that this wine may improve greatly with time, so we are considering cellaring a few bottles to let it develop. This wine has a screw cap.

At $3.99 a bottle, this is a good value. (We did not find an independent price quote for this wine.) It's not quite a Jackpot at this point, but could be after cellaring.

Update: We had part of the bottle left the second day and the wine had improved quite a bit. The "fizziness" was gone and the berry tastes were more subdued, so the idea of cellaring it is promising. We suggest decanting this wine to improve it if you are drinking it now.