2005 Los Vascos 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

2005 Los Vascos 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

2005 The Stump Jump Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre

2005 The Stump Jump Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre

Spectacular for the price. New world fruit and old world funky earth. This will definitely go into the rotation of regular purchases.

On the nose I got dark cherry, barnyard earthy funk, and a black licorice chaser all wrapped in a fairly pronounced eucalyptus leaf (this really came out on the second bottle). Big fruit, medium tannins, black peppercorn and a bit of mocha on the palate. This is a wine with TONS of personality. One of my favorites this year, and for the price an absolute steal.

It was a bit "zingy" even after an hour of decanting. The full personality of this wine didn't really show up until it had been out for at least two hours; it definitely needs to mellow out a bit.

Additional note (from the second bottle in one week): two hours decanting is not enough. The ZING! factor holds on tenaciously, and even after two hours, I was swirling for 5-10 minutes a glass to get more air on it. The effect of decanting on this wine is dramatic. If you get a hard acidic edge bordering on "spritziness," leave it for a couple more hours, preferably in a decanter. I've seen other reviews say it was better on the second day and that sounds about right.

2001 Bricco Gaiano Barbera d'Asti

2001 Bricco Gaiano Barbera d'Asti

NV Crossroads CSM

NV Crossroads CSM

The fruit has landed...but I like it. Strawberry for days, with a bit of mocha and a slight bitterness that makes me wonder if the brown tint around the edges wasn't a twinge of oxidation rather than age. Overall nothing challenging but very drinkable. A quality wine but at 18 bucks misses its pricepoint completely. If they came down to 12 or under maybe I'd give this another whirl. But I can drink some pretty great wine in the 20 dollar range.

2005 Becker Vineyards Iconoclast

2005 Becker Vineyards Iconoclast

Fruity but not cloying and oversweet. Nice complexity; finish was good but seemed short. A great buy, highly recommended.

2005 The Wishing Tree Shiraz

2005 The Wishing Tree Shiraz

Old-world leaning for an Australian; no berry grenades here. A little bit simple, but rich with good structure and great mouthfeel. Does well with a couple hours decanting, as always. Cassis and cola with medium tannins. For the price point it's got me on the fence, but after some further consideration, I'd buy it again. It really is a great wine, rich if not terribly complex. The nose takes a while to open up, but once it does, it's very nice.

2004 Red Knot Shiraz

2004 Red Knot Shiraz

A good new-world fruit bomb with great structure and enough earthy/dirty socks left turn to hoist it north of bland Yellow Tail-ness. Blackberry and cola on the nose and medium tannins. A good wine for the price.

Tasting Tags: berry cola

2003 Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir

2003 Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir

Earthy on the nose, a bit of dirty socks, red cabbage and black cherry. On the palate light and zingy, and almost a bit of spritz; more dark cherry flavors and a long finish. Very nice, but liked it better after a long decanting calmed down the zing! factor. Get a 2+ hour start on this one.

Tasting Tags: black cabbage cherry earthy

2005 Shotfire Barossa Shiraz

2005 Shotfire Barossa Shiraz

Inky purple, strong mocha and blackberry on the nose, lovely balance and structure and a chocolate finish that goes for days. A bit strong on the palette actually, like chickory in your coffee, coming right up to the edge of bitter but not going over. Brilliant, looking forward to the next bottle.