Charlie's WorldRed Wine Wednesday – Old Kent River 2005 Shiraz
Its Wednesday!! And guess what? Red Wine Time! Actually, that’s a teensy fib – its really Thursday, I just forgot to post this yesterday. Luckily for me, I’m in Australia and 3/4 of the globe is behind me, day-wise, so there might be somewhere left that’s still Wednesday!
It’s not good really – first I do a Red White Wine Wednesday and then I spring a Red Wine Wednesday Thursday on you all! Some consistent brand image that is!! It’ll probably degenerate into a daily slurred Some Alcohol Day post before too long and you’ll be wondering what’s gone wrong in my life!!
So, what does this wonderful day have in store, wine wise?
A gorgeous Shriaz from the Old Kent River Winery in the Great Southern wine region of Western Australia.Some education for you.
Shiraz is typically classified as warm or cold climate. Warm climate ones such as South Australian Barossa Valley (like Pepperjack), Coonawarra or even the Perth Swan Valley wines are typically very in your face – intense, bold, fruity, pretty spicy nature, especially in the mid palate where they open up into a cornucopia of flavour and tannin. Cool climate ones, such as the Old Kent River wine we have here or the Margaret River ones are a lot softer and more subtle, with velvety smooth texture in place of intensity. The cool climate ones are none the worse for it, but warm or cool, you have to know you’re dealing with a quite different wine. Also, as I mentioned before, the age of the vines and the type of soil also makes a difference – some of the oldest wineries in Australia are in the Barossa and the complexity of flavour does somewhat marry up with that.
So, the Old Kent River Shiraz is a cool climate wine – the climate around Denmark and Albany in the South West of Western Australia is much cooler than South Australia or Perth due to the influence of the cold Southern Ocean and the prevailing winds.
So, on with the show.
Presentation: Classy. earthy tones on the label, clean font – not trying too hard. Pedigree.
Appearance: Its a rich plummy jam colour – very deep and intense with only a little bit of translucency right at the top of the glass. This ought to be good then!
Aroma/Smell/Bouquet: a very rich warm velvety smell, some acidity though to temper it, plus a little hint of pepper. There’s some dark cherry in there plus bitter chocolate and a hint of vanilla.
Taste:
Front Opens with a warm rich cherry and chocolate fruit burst, but it’s quite subtle, nicely dry with that hint of vanilla. Just a hint, mind.
Middle: Here comes the pepper, it’t got a little kick to is, but it’s well controlled. There’s some lovely oaky tannins with maybe a cinnamon and vanilla thing going on. Dark cherry and plummy – there’s a lot to enjoy.
Finish: Soft and smooth with some gorgeous oaky tannin action. A slight bitter chocolate with a tiny tang and then its soft and warm with that lingering pepper so you know you’ve had a Shiraz and not any other kind of grape.
Verdict: Its good – subtle, very smooth but with just enough of that kick to let you know you’ve had a shiraz! And there’s that creamy vanilla right on the end of the finish too, which reminds me a little of the McLaren Vale Woven Leaf
Score – 9/10 – very very good. But then its $30 a bottle, so it should be really!
Charlie's World 
I am not a drinker, but I can definitely appreciate this post.. ALOT! Thanks for all the wonderful information Charlie.. since I wouldn’t know what to do if I had to pick out a wine
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