Layer Cake one of best shiraz wines on the market
Napa Valley winemaker and visionary Jayson Woodbridge is on a roll.
He started a few years ago with a California wine called Hundred Acre. Rolled out in a high-end wooden box with a golden screwdriver to open it, there was no lack of theatrics involved with the wine. To boot, Woodbridge claimed it was the best cabernet to come out of the area in years. When he received 98 points from Robert Parker in the third vintage and sold it for $250 per bottle, people stopped criticizing and started looking for where to find it.
Then, he came out with a great white called Gold, which had real 24-karat gold flecks in the wine. It was a huge success.
I wrote about another wine of his last year called Barossa Jack, which is an incredible Australian wine for the money.
And now, this Layer Cake from his Pure Love Wine Co. may be, pound-for-pound, the greatest shiraz for less than $15 on the market.
Made from all old-vine shiraz from the best vineyard sites in the famous Barossa Valley and named for his grandfather's comparison of soil to a layer cake, this is as good as it gets. It is already flying off the shelves at retailers.
Nothing at four times the price comes even close to this quality.
In the glass, Layer Cake Shiraz is a tremendously dense blackish-red color with a deep opaque purplish core, going out into a fine violet-fuchsia rim definition with high-painted viscosity.
On the nose, the wine explodes with sexy concentrated black fruit characteristics, mocha, dark chocolate, roasted coffee beans with vanilla flavor, creme brulee, licorice root, spice box and soft earthy minerals laced with slight oak references.
In the mouth, it quickly envelops the palate with highly concentrated black fruit dominated by blackberries, black cherries, crushed black currants, huckleberries, intense dry extract and gobs of melted licorice. The midpalate reveals even more spices with underlying aniseed, supple tannins and minerals going into a powerful and long finish that has tons of fruit and vanilla-laced oak references to the end.
Layer Cake is a superb winemaking effort from this prestigious appellation in Australia. Try it with a medium-rare grilled fillet of Wagyu beef. It should drink well through 2010, and needs about one hour or more out of the bottle before consumption; a decanter might be a good idea.
Wine: Layer Cake Shiraz
Grape: Shiraz
Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia
Vintage: 2006
Price: $14.99
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.
