WBW #16: The Lucky Country 2003 Barossa Valley

Did you remember to go out and get your "pretty label" wine? If not, shame on you for missing out on this month's edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the globe's premier wine blogging happening.

This vintage of WBW, brought to us by Derrick of An Obsession With Food, challenged us to judge a book by it's cover...or more accurately, buy a wine based soley on its label. We all know that a wine's label tells us absolutely nothing about the quality of the wine on the inside, but this is a great theme nonetheless.

You'll be shocked to learn that the LENNDEVOURS tasting team (that being Nena and yours truly) did things a little differently this month. For one, the lovely Nena was tasked with wine selection. Why? First, I think it only fair...I pick out much of the wine we drink and it's fun to give up that job occasionally. And secondly, I thought it possible that I'd not be able to put all other characteristics aside and focus soley on labels.

The other thing that was a little different about WBW this month...we did not drink a Long Island, or even New York State wine. Nope, this month Nena picked out a raspberry-dominated shiraz blend from the Barossa Valley in Australia: The Lucky Country 2003 Barossa Valley ($18).

I always love when I Google a wine to get more information on it and one of the first results is a fellow wine blogger, in this case Jens of the newly named Cincinnati Wine Warehouse. Jens tells us that this is a second-label bottling from Two Hands Wines and the bottles tells us that it's 55% shiraz and 45% cabernet sauvignon.

oseEyes: Well extracted with deep, dark plum purple color

Nose: Big raspberry and currant aromas dominate with hints of cinnamon, clove and earth

Tongue: Firm, slightly astringent tannins provide nice framework for this full-bodied, warm weather blend. It's flavors are fairly simple at first, with raspberry and black currants, but with a little time in the glass, other flavors emerge: licorice, olives and savorty spice. The finish is fairly long with sweet fruit giving way to spice as well.

Price: $18

Lenn's Grade: B
Nena's Grade: B-

Overall: Syrah/Shiraz doesn't do particuarly well in most years here on Long Island, so I don't drink a ton of it, but I really enjoyed this wine and would absolutely buy it again for BBQ pairing. 20,000 cases were produced and it's funny what drinking local wines, which usually top out at around 13% abv can do to ones tongue. I noticed the alcohol in this Aussie bottling and it was "only" 14.5.

Technorati tags: food & drink | wine blogging wednesday | wbw | wbw 16 | wine | tasting notes

Comments

[jens at cincinnati wine warehouse]

Thanks for the plug! Some of the local distributors have said the same thing when they Google a wine to prepare tasting notes for a shop or restaurant. All I can say is, "Keep blogging"! We might be on to something here!

jens at cincinnati wine reviews

[WaterintoWino]

Nice label and I might have to borrow that school style grading, the 100 point scale makes me cringe everytime I see it on my site.

[Jennifer]

Lenn,

If I had your phone number you'd hear me saying: NO WAY!!!! As you will soon read later today, this is the wine I chose to review. Hah! LOL!!! Anyway, I'm going to refrain from reading what you've written (I went straight to the comment link) until I've posted my own take on The Lucky Country.

[Jennifer]

Okay Lenn. So it looks like I tasted the first bottling of The Lucky Country--different image, different blend, but same name. There were also differences in tasting, of course. While the one I tried was astringent too, the finish was not as long as you describe. Fascinating...

[taj]

Two Hands is one of my favorite Aussie winemakers. This wine is made from the ever-so-slightly-less perfect fruit from the vineyards that grow for their top wines. I like this wine, and I like the other L.C. blend, a GSM. And I have been completely unable to resist their marketing. The Two Hands labels absolutely rock.

Clinkies.
Taj

[Jerry]

Lenn - I liked this wine quite a bit (when I reviewed it in September http://volunteer.blogs.com/winewaves/2005/09/two_hands_wines.html), although I must admit to being quite fond of Australian style Shiraz. Maybe it's the hot weather down here in Tennessee, and our penchant for Barbecue and spicy fare.