I’ve written about me having preconceived ideas regarding wine before, however on this occasion, the focus is on a couple from Western Australia, who are good friends of mine, and work in the hospitality world. Visiting my home, they were keen to try some Tassie wine. The main reason being that it’s not that readily available in WA and they knew they’d get to see some rippers at my place (sounds conceited I know). We spoke about other regions as well, and of course, I mentioned Queensland. They were, let’s say, not particularly cognisant about Queensland wine regions, the industry there, or the wines. So, I decided to throw a bit of a furphy in the mix; this wine.
Now, I didn’t mislead them, I just didn’t say it was or wasn’t a Tassie red, and they didn’t ask. It was the last wine they tried and they loved it! When I told them what they had tasted, they were obviously pleasantly surprised. They didn’t say ‘wow’, but you could see it on their faces. It was priceless. Next, they started googling Queensland wines. Enough said.
Great dark fruit colour and huge whiffs of them on the nose. The palate is the place where the juicy fruit party is happening. Blackberries galore, black cherries, there’s a fruits-of-the-forest flavoured yoghurt sort of creaminess too, hints of white pepper, and some texture rounding out a pretty good finish.
This is a delicious, very easy to drink Shiraz, and would be a versatile food wine too. It has enough richness to hold its own with a nice cut of steak at your local hotel, yet would be comfortable paired up with a pepperoni pizza on a Friday night in front of the telly.
Region: Granite Belt, Queensland Price: $30 Source: Swap
Words from a Wine Glass 