Tasting Date: 05/17/2008
Tasting Geeks: Tally-Ho, Full Throttle, Bad Man
Tasting Theme: Rhone Rangers mk i – Syrahs Hurrahs – TRTB’s Second Voyage
The Contenders:
Rosemont Estate 2006 Shiraz, South Eastern Australia $6
Barrel 27 2005 Central Coast Syrah, Santa Maria, California $14
Porcupine Ridge 2006 Syrah, Boekenhoutskloof Franschhoek, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa $10
Thorn Clarke 2003 Shotfire Ridge Shiraz, Barossa, Australia $20
Outcome: Tally-Ho & Full-Throttle picked Shotfire Ridge, Badman picked Porcupine Ridge. As can be seen, although the two girls agreed in general more with each other than with me (which, as you would imagine, is fairly typical in our conversations as well as in evaluating wine), we were all pretty much all over the board on this one.
Read the full tasting here, then come back to post your comment.
04/10/2008 at 12:33 pm Permalink
FYI to all you Syrah/Shiraz lovers out there: the Thorn Clarke 2003 Shotfire Ridge Shiraz, Barossa, Australia $20 is a cardamom and fruit bomb; all dark jammy loveliness and warm spice notes. And for the record, it paired really well with the old-fashioned comfort food dinner of meatloaf (beef, veal and pork), garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli we tucked in to after the tasting.
04/10/2008 at 5:48 pm Permalink
For some reason I found the nose of the Thorn Clarke 2003 Shotfire Ridge Shiraz, Barossa, Australia off, so much so that I had to downgrade it significantly. I’ve tasted the Porcupine Ridge 2006 Boekenhoutskloof Franschhoek, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa many times after this tasting, and although it came HIGHLY recommended from Tally-Ho’s favorite local wine merchant and I loved it on consumption of the first few bottles, I am now not so excited about it. So perhaps another Syrah/Shiraz tasting is in order. And of course the Penfolds Grange will have to make an appearance.