Wine of the Week: The White Ribbon Shiraz
Wine: The White Ribbon Shiraz
Grape: Shiraz
Region: Hunter Valley, Victoria, South Australia
Vintage: 2014
Price: $6.99
Availability: Trader Joe’s
In the glass: White Ribbon Shiraz is a deep blackish-purple red color with an inky-black core going out into a deep crimson to fuchsia red rim definition and painted high viscosity.
On the nose: There is at first quite meaty black fruit, then tons of black licorice characteristics, slight touches of new oak, spice box, sweet tobacco, white pepper, minerals and then hints of red and black crushed berries, anise, fennel seed, violet pastilles and eucalyptus.
On the palate: There is an intense onslaught of licorice-laden blackberry juice, crushed brambleberries, huckleberry jam, earthy minerals, spices, peppercorns, star anise and some phenolic violet undertones. The midpalate is very balanced and there are soft tannins throughout, going into a lengthy finish that is tinged with licorice root extract and oak references.
Odds and ends: Much time has passed since I found a great value Australian wine in the retail market. They used to almost hang on trees until the Australian wine industry fell on hard times with the financial crisis and the elevated value of the Australian dollar against the greenback.
Although major brands such as Yellow Tail and Penfolds persisted, many of the once great value wines from Down Under disappeared from the marketplace, only to be replaced by wines from Spain, Chile and Argentina.
White Ribbon comes from a lovely area of Australia outside Melbourne called Hunter Valley. This is a young and muscular sort of wine that demands to be opened at least one hour before drinking, which should be an easy proposition considering its Stelvin screw cap.
It is a great value and a match made in heaven for a big juicy medium-rare hamburger.
Drink it now through 2018.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears on Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.
