Element 79 Barossa Shiraz 2008

The Grocery Outlet chain must have been offered a big lot of Aussie Vineyards wines. Element 79 is another of their lines. It is the "big brother" to their original Au brand. Look closely and you can see the Au watermark under the name. While sitting down to taste the wine, we were delighted by their intelligent marketing. The "Au" says Australia and gold (medal winning?) and the Element 79 reference to the periodic table has to appeal to geeky science people.

The bottle says this is a "limited release" from "the finest estate-grown fruit." It is from the Barossa region which is producing many highly rated wines. "Our 2008 Barossa Shiraz exhibits intense purple and red hues with rich aromas of dark berry fruit on the nose. Your palate delights with blackberry and licorice flavors, while firm, balanced tannins deliver a satisfying long finish. Shiraz from the Barrossa rarely disappoints, and our 2008 vintage is no exceptions following an excellent growing season". This wine has a GOLD screw cap, of course. 13.8% Alcohol.

We found a lot of agreement with the bottle on our tasting. First is the amazing color; this wine is so dark that it lets very little light through and leaves a red impression on the glass for quite a while after it is swirled. The nose does have nice fruit and spice. On the first taste, you get strong grape, stone fruit, and spice with a smooth finish. As the tasting continued, the tannin became more noticeable, but paired with palate cleansing food, we were delighted with each return to the wine. The spice is at a nice level for a Shiraz. Our guest taster felt the wine built up a metallic/spice taste on the finish as we were drinking (maybe appropriate for Au.)

At $3.99, for a $27.99 comparison, this was a great buy. Element 79 - check it out on your periodic table and pick up some wine that wins our Gross Out Gold Medal. We are going to pick more up, if we can, to confirm our winning ticket first impression.

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.

Frick Syrah 04

Frick? Um, maybe that doesn't have the same connotation for the vintner, ... his name is Frick. The bottle is one of those painted enamel types with a stylized paint brush and paintball motif. To our eyes, it is ugly (or at least from a past abortive trend), but it is in the "Syrah" shaped bottle.

Syrah, Owl's glide, silence. (Uh, right.... Whooo was drinking during the marketing meeting?)

The bottle was a 2004 Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley, Estate bottled Owl Hill Vineyard. The bottle had a composite cork (not plastic, but not natural) with the signature paintball splot on the top. 12.9% alcohol.

Deep red in the glass. The nose had strong alcohol, berry, and oak. This wine seemed more like a Cabernet than a Syrah and was better with food. It had berry and strong vanilla on the palate. The finish was full of oak and tannin. We were surprised that the labeled alcohol by volume was so low based on how it drank. This is a big, bitter wine.

At $4.99, this was a mid price wine for our local Gross Out. The "elsewhere" price was $20-30, which is the only reason we picked up a bottle that looked like this. This wine needs some appropriate strong food to be enjoyable and should be decanted (to hide the bottle...:)) since it has some sediment and needs to breathe.

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.

Kunde Estates Syrah 05

The wine was a pretty dark red plum in the glass. The nose pleasant with a hint of oak. The taste on the palate was quite smooth and balanced. The wine has a full finish with good oak. It did not have heavy pepper of Shiraz/Syrah. We agree with the label that the wine has floral notes, but we would identify it as raspberry (which also have a wonderful floral taste.)

At $5.99, we rate this as a good value. We had a 06 of the same wine (it has a redesigned label) that we did not enjoy nearly as much. If you are buying this wine, look for the "old fashioned" green label.

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.