7/22/11
A bit reductive on nose on opening. With some aeration the nose offers up some classic varietal notes, some smoky tones, a touch of bacon fat, some gaminess and a slight herbal injection and nice dark cherry fruit underneath it all. The palate is surprisingly juicy, with some savory notes mimicking the nose, a touch of bacon and game with lovely cherry, red berry fruit pushing through. Medium to medium fuller bodied with sleek tannins that add just the right amount of grip to focus the fruit, there’s an underlying vein of acidity for freshness; this has surprising depth and length and is a solid go to wine that’s uncomplicated with lots of appealing fruit. For the money it’s a great value. This is something that can be an everyday wine that goes beyond just an inexpensive quaffer. Excellent value…
Awards,
Reviews and other Notes
86 pts wine Advocate Issue #184 Aug 2009
This offering from Two Oceans should be taken by most other producers world wide as an embarrassment and a challenge. I give the Two Oceans’ 2008 Shiraz a lower mark than last year’s rendition solely because of a slight reduction that required one administer a good shaking to the wine, which even then revealed smoky bacon, sweat, and sage along with its ripe cherry. This wine’s exuberance and the faintly bitter and tart edge to its fruit make for an attractive degree of invigoration for a wine so inexpensive.
