Jen's Aussie Adventure

Torbreck 2004 WoodCutter’s Shiraz
$19.99
Shane’s Notes

This was a blind taste for Jen. We are still trying to find at least one Aussie wine that we really enjoy.

My notes: Aroma is very jammy. Obviously new world. Palate has some sweet, blackberry and blueberry flavors. The finish is bit spicy and alcoholic. Fairly elegant. It’s a decent wine, but I wouldn’t buy a second bottle. I just don’t find the flavors that exciting.

Jen’s Notes: Aroma – sweet, jammy fruit. The palate is tangy and smoky with tart berry fruit. Maybe black currant. It has a decent length finish. My guess is that it’s a new world Pinot costing around $20.

Jen agreed with me that the wine was okay but that she wouldn’t buy another bottle. The bottom line is that neither of us have really liked Aussie wines, and neither of us have liked Syrah from anywhere in the world. We taste Syrahs and can never figure out why the varietal is so popular. I guess it just doesn’t mesh with our palates.

A Syrah should have a much heavier texture than a Pinot, so you wouldn’t think you would confuse the two. However, we have recently had the Sea Smoke Southing Pinot, and its texture was heavier than the texture on this Syrah (I have no idea why its texture was so heavy). Anyway, I think this Pinot was still fresh in Jen’s mind when she drank this Syrah.

We have now done several blind tastings. We have both done a good job assessing quality and price range, and we have both done a lousy job guessing the varietals. I think we need to have a few tastings where we try some of the major varietals side by side and really focus on their (supposedly) unique features.