Winetastic

Saturday night saw a small birthday celebration for Gemma at a local restaraunt Rocksalt with our closest friends. As always the food and service were excellent and in an effort to ensure the evening was entirely memorable, we were drinking 100% Hunter Valley Shiraz. I have some brief notes of the wines below as the nights focus was obviously not on wine analysis.

Meerea Park ‘The Aunts’ Shiraz 2003
The bottle had been open for two hours, after pouring the first glass the open aromas of this wine had snaked their way to the other end of our table. Full flavoured, featuring silky smooth tannins, restrained red fruits and some earthy complexity. I am very glad we have another 5 bottles to go, good value for money.

Mount Pleasant Rosehill Shiraz 2000
I challenge anyone to find a better match of a tender eye fillet steak. Dark and red fruits, pepper, spices and some underlying earthy characters, a Shiraz full in flavour and body with sound tannin structure.

Irongate Estate Sweet Shiraz 2004
A wine which is the ideal match for dark and rich chocolate treats. The red berry fruit flavours of the Shiraz formed an excellent combination with chocolate mud cake. Do try this at the cellar door, it is not overly sweet and actually makes a pretty good pre-dinner drink when slightly chilled.

Mount Pleasant Phillip Shiraz 2002
A wine reviewed in full recently, one of the best value for money reds on the market right now, especially when you can find it on special for only $12. Give this Shiraz some time to breathe as the last glass is usually the best.