Winey Tasting Notes: The Winey Daughter Down Under and Layer Cake Shiraz
As I said last week, The Winey Daughter is studying for the month of January in New Zealand and Australia. Her first week of the trip was spent in New Zealand, where she lived as a Hobbit for a number of days. At least that’s what it looks like from her pictures. I didn’t even know she knew Gollum. (For those of you who are confused at the moment, it may help if I tell you that the The Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in Wellington, New Zealand. And since she is taking a film class, it all makes sense now, doesn’t it?)
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| Bondi Beach (Photo by The Winey Daughter) |
Right now she’s in Australia. We’ve been getting updates from her and I’m pretty sure she’s fallen in love with that land down under. It doesn’t hurt that it’s muddy and rainy and snowy (all at the same time pretty much) here and that it’s high summer there. In fact, the other night her text announced that it was 107 degrees that day in Sydney. Now THAT’S summer, huh?
She will be traveling all over the country, but they started out in Sydney, cruising the harbor, visiting the Opera House and of course, hitting Bondi Beach. (Why travel to a different hemisphere with an entirely different season schedule and not go to the beach, right?) I must say, the pictures I’ve seen are absolutely stunning. New Zealand was gorgeous, and Australia is turning out to be equally as picturesque.
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| Bondi Beach, take two (Photo by The Winey Daughter) |
Have I mentioned that I’m also coveting her wine time in the land down under? Because Australia, like New Zealand, is knows for its wines. It currently ranks as the fourth largest exporter of wine in the world. Grapes are grown everywhere in the country, but especially in the southern states, which is where today’s Aussie wine comes from.
Layer Cake Shiraz (2012, 14.9%, South Australia) is sourced from McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley, two of the more famous wine area in South Australia.
The nose on this is a German chocolate cake: some faint mocha and some bright berry. When you taste it, the first layer is all oak and woodsy spices. Then you get to the middle layer and you taste the fruit, in this case, sour cherries. And to top it all off there’s a layer of mocha and coffee flavors. They all come together in a wine that feels velvety in your mouth. The finish is elegant tannins. It’s very well balanced, too – no burning feel in your mouth, just a nice smooth sip.
You should buy this wine. And then buy some more. If you like red wine, but don’t want one as fruity as a Merlot, this is for you. The fruit and oak blend together so beautifully. You get the best of both of those tastes. It would please a whole range of red wine lovers.
