I have to tell you that I have been eyeing up this bottle of wine for the past week or so and why I did not open it sooner was because of antiquated wisdom. First, this is a big red from Oz with huge alcohol (15%) and over the past week we were having some nice fish dishes for dinner, and the thought of trying to force this wine to match with shrimp, salmon, or cod was a bit of a hard pill to swallow (or wine to drink) ... I know I always say to drink what you want with what you like to eat and throw out the old white with fish / red with meat guide book our parents all preached from; but there are times when that old book comes in handy and a big Aussie blend is not for the feint of heart (or the delicate of fish). And I have to say that I am glad I waited for Saturday's dinner of London Broil because the pairing of the pork and steak mix with the ballsyness of this wine went quite well together. The first thing I noticed upon opening this 8 year old wine was that the inside of the screwcap looked like the business end of the paint can lid ... the bottle was also stained with sediment and inside the neck there was also a caking of sediment. Of course none of that will kill you so time to move on. The nose was very raspberry, mostly of the jam variety, with sweet spices and some sweet cherry, as time in glass passed I swear I could smell red jujubes ... and that's not a bad thing. The palate was also very interesting. The raspberry and spice ported over from the nose adding in a touch of vanilla and a little cedar, but always with plenty of spice. As the night wore on other flavours appeared, like blackberry, cassis and dark cocoa. This was an amazingly delicious wine and I can't wait to polish off the remaining bottles in my cellar over the next couple of years.
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