I'm being good to my budget, and drinking some cheaper wine. No more $30+ bottles for me for a while. Nothing wrong with a good vin de pays (assuming that this wine is, in fact, good). The density of color is moderate garnet with some significant browning towards the rim. The aromas are muted, though it's possible I just can't smell anything due to the abnormal amount of pollen in the air today. I swear my neighbors have a pollen machine akin to those beasts that spew fake snow all over the slopes in the winter. Anyway, what I do smell is mostly oak- and age-related - dark chocolate, hazelnut, and maybe some dark berry jam.
On the palate, it's a little abrasive, between the reasonably high alcohol, tannin, and acid. They're all pretty well in balance, but they're all quite high. There's not much fruit, and what there is comes across as somewhat dusty. Not a great wine, but it's drinkable, and the finish is quite long and nutty. It'll do.
Vintage: 2004
Grape: Merlot
Region: Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Price: $11
Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
2004 Elderton Shiraz Barossa
Thanks to a cooling thunderstorm this afternoon, I feel comfortable opening up a big Australian shiraz without having to put it in the fridge first....
Since it has some bottle age on it, the wine has some browning towards the edges, as expected, but the core remains dark and dense. Not quite inky, and it has lost any hint of blue tones, but it is an opaque garnet. The nose is heavily marked by oak, coming across as vanilla, clove, and butter and more than a bit of smoke. There is fruit here, too; dark stewed berries, though, not a fresh fruit in sight. (Or in smell, as it were.) No doubt this is a hot-climate wine. I'm hoping the alcohol doesn't cause me to begin breathing fire.
Huh. This wine is so much bigger and denser in the nose than it is on the palate. I mean, it's not a pinot noir, and there is some hefty alcohol to be sure (no evidence of fire-breathing as yet, though), but I do not get the feeling that I am chewing on a 2x4, nor am I bathing in black cherry pie filling. The wine has a nice balance of toast and black currant fruit, plenty of acidity to give it a lift, and some fine, silky tannins for texture. Yes, the alcohol is high, and I'm getting a little tingle in my tummy from it, but it's not nearly as overpowering as it could be. I think this is going to pair very nicely with the (extremely elegant) dinner I have planned - chili on a baked sweet potato. (Hey, it's healthy.)
Vintage: 2004
Region: Barossa, Australia
Grape: Shiraz
Price: $35
Since it has some bottle age on it, the wine has some browning towards the edges, as expected, but the core remains dark and dense. Not quite inky, and it has lost any hint of blue tones, but it is an opaque garnet. The nose is heavily marked by oak, coming across as vanilla, clove, and butter and more than a bit of smoke. There is fruit here, too; dark stewed berries, though, not a fresh fruit in sight. (Or in smell, as it were.) No doubt this is a hot-climate wine. I'm hoping the alcohol doesn't cause me to begin breathing fire.
Huh. This wine is so much bigger and denser in the nose than it is on the palate. I mean, it's not a pinot noir, and there is some hefty alcohol to be sure (no evidence of fire-breathing as yet, though), but I do not get the feeling that I am chewing on a 2x4, nor am I bathing in black cherry pie filling. The wine has a nice balance of toast and black currant fruit, plenty of acidity to give it a lift, and some fine, silky tannins for texture. Yes, the alcohol is high, and I'm getting a little tingle in my tummy from it, but it's not nearly as overpowering as it could be. I think this is going to pair very nicely with the (extremely elegant) dinner I have planned - chili on a baked sweet potato. (Hey, it's healthy.)
Vintage: 2004
Region: Barossa, Australia
Grape: Shiraz
Price: $35
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