Sunday, March 4, 2012

Thorn-Clarke 2006 Shotfire Shiraz (Australia)

This particular bottle of 2006 Shiraz from Thorn-Clarke was my first experience with a Thorn-Clarke wine ... that was a few years ago now.  This bottle was bought in Michigan in late 2007 on the recommendation of my buddy Dave, with whom I have talked a lot about in blogs and a lot to about wine.  He said it was one of the best value Shirazes in the store at the time, and he was right.  So I decided to bring some home and store a bottle or two away to see if the "best value can be aged into a even better wine - and I am happy to say the answer to that question is "yes" ... The nose is peppery, plum, vanilla with a touch of anise and spiced blackberry as it sits in the glass - it got better and better as the night wore on.  The palate is even more intriguing, gone is the jammy-pepperyness that is customary in Aussie Shiraz, now we are left with some complexity and elegance.  Smoky-licorice starts things off, then deep dark blackberries soaked in dutch cocoa with a white pepper finish and black raspberry linger - but all without that drenched full-on fruitness (aka: fruit bomb) ... decadent and pleasurable all in one glass, this has aged into a real beauty; glad I have more kiking around, and from different years.


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