Normally Saturday is a Pinot Noir night, but our group of friends were headed out to the local ski park to do some inter-tube sledding, I was making chili for later and Pinot Noir didn’t sound quite right. Instead I went shopping for a Shiraz/Syrah and ended up taking home Rosemount Estates 2007 Diamond Label Shiraz. I originally picked up a 2008 vintage, but saw a 2007 sitting in the rear. Figuring older was better (my wine guide says 3-5 years on an Aussie Shiraz) I grab it instead.
Now I have no way of knowing if that extra year was worth it, and to be honest I’ve had but perhaps one bottle of Shiraz in my short wine life, but this was rather good, especially with my chili. As I said I’m no Shiraz expert, I’m just getting my feet wet, so I’m not sure what I was smelling exactly but there were a lot of berries in there (blackberries if I had to guess) and I could smell the peppery spice. It tasted pretty good going down, not too acidic, strong but not overpowering, and the tanins were light even without the chili. When I had it with the chili I knew I did well. They went quite nicely together.
Since I’m new to Shiraz, I’m giving this an 85. If there’s another 2007 still on the shelf next week I’m going to pick it up. At $13, it’ll be nice to have on hand.
