Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2009

On the vine the Shiraz grapes are dark in colour and can even be totally black in some of the warmer areas. This variety has been classified as an optimistic variety which means that it doesn't react well to spikes of heat or lack of water during the growing season.  In warmer climates you can expect to see a full bodied wine with flavours in the jammy or liqueured end of the spectrum,  whereas in cool climates flavours of spice and fresh picked berries with a savoury edge appear.

Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2009

The Shaw & Smith version is predominately from their Woodside vineyard with a little Macclesfield fruit thrown in.  The palate tasted like it has been polished up so it is as smooth as hell with flavours of spice and plums with a little meat action on the mid palate.  There are some nice winter herbs and chocolate adding to the experience with a green twig element that concerns me a little. If I put the meat and green twigs a side then the score would have been huge but I thought that those two components indicated a little over and under ripeness in the wine. Bearing that in mind the wine still offers good value and I would be happy to suck down a bottle on a big occasion.

Alcohol: 14.5%
Price: $40
Rated: 90
Drink: Now - 2019