Bruce Hayes wrote:From the Barossa Valley.
Very dark purple in the glass.
A rather restrained nose, that still revealed cherry, spices and smoke.
Heavy and thick in the mouth, black cherry, red licorice, spicy and sort of a cherry cough drop-syrup flavour that I have always associated with Grenache.
A little rough on the end, with some heat, from, I assume, the 14.5 per cent alcohol.
Thanks for the note Bruce. Though not really a style I like, I've been exposed to a fair share of the Aussie bruisers available here because a close friend loves them. If bruisers are the style you like, this is a very fair example and at a very fair price.
Funny what you mention about the cough-drop syrup flavour as Grenache! Could it be the combination of vegetality and very sweet strawberry that I've thought as the signatory flavour? I could very well imagine it being so, but haven't had cough syrup ever so I'm not sure.
I also thought the 14,5% all too obvious, but my friend really loved this wine.
I don't drink wine because of religious reasons ... only for other reasons.