Wine review: Kangaroo Ridge 2002 shiraz

[altivo]

Mmmm, tasty. Some of you know that I have a fondness for Australian and other southern hemisphere wines. I've sampled enough of the Australian vintages to have definite ideas and preferences about them... for one thing, the ones from the southeastern part of the continent are much better than the western ones. ;P

Anyway, a new discovery. I was in the local wine purveyor's shop over the weekend and while picking out a bottle of shiraz I noticed a label that was new to me: Kangaroo Ridge? Never heard of it. The price was absurdly low, you can't get even cheap rotgut stuff here for $4 a bottle. But it was Australian so I had to try it.

This was 2002 vintage, so it had already had some time to mellow out a bit. One of the things I like about southern hemisphere wines (that includes the produce of Chile and South Africa too, but Australian is easier to find here) is that you get an extra six months of cellarage for the same year. Anyway, the 2002 Kangaroo Ridge shiraz is delightful, and especially so for this price. I need to go back and get some more while they still have it. It lacks the tannic bite that has been appearing in some of the younger merlots and shirazes lately, and is rich with the berry and spice flavors and fragrances that characterize shiraz.

I'm getting worried. Years ago I discovered merlot before the yuppies were even drinking wine. Very few vintners offered merlot by itself. Mostly they used it to mix with cabernet grapes to tone them down. Then the merlot craze hit and suddenly there were hundreds (probably thousands) of labels and vineyards offering it. The price tripled. And the quality dropped by way too much. Yuppies don't know anything much about wine, I'm sorry to say. They just buy whatever someone else tells them to. Merlot is a soft wine. It can be drunk when only a year or two old, and actually declines in quality if kept for eight or ten years. Well, the yuppers wanted to buy cases of it to "put down" in the cellar, so the vintners started increasing the tannins. The result: bitey, nasty stuff that you can't drink until you've kept it for five years. Merlot has been ruined, but shiraz is still good. Someone save the shiraz from the yuppie marketplace? Please?

Now the NZ question: Why do we never see New Zealand wines here in the midwestern US? I know NZ has a wine industry. Are you kiwis keeping it all to yourselves?

Comments

[doco.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I _do_ recall seeing Kangaroo Ridge on the 'bum wine' shelf at Aldi's in Düsseldorf, somewhere in the 1.79 section.

Need to check if it's the shiraz.

And, regarding wine, anything 2003-ish from Germany is good to drink now.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes. You Germans do know how to make a good wine. Unfortunately, here where I live we tend only to see the whites. I definitely prefer reds, though I have a weakness for may wine when I can get it.

[doco.livejournal.com]

I prefer the rosé myself, as the red is usually too strong for my poor little body. ;)

Most whites are nice though, maybe for the exception of the infamous 99-cent-a-bottle Müller-Thurgau grape. I have however found out that _these_ wines ALL come from the same winery, so it's easy to stay away from them.

(Then again, unclekage mentioned last year that he liked the 59-cent-a-liter wine-in-bag we bought him at Lidl's.)

[hrrunka]

kiwis keeping it all

They ship a fair bit to us here in old England. It's the Western Australians who keep most of their stuff for themselves. ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think the only Western Aussie label we see with regularity is Black Swan. I've tried several and never been impressed. But then I feel much the same about Rosemount, which is from South Australia and is highly rated and priced to match. $20 to $50 for a bottle exceeds my budget, so it's just as well I wasn't hooked.

Other South Australia labels are quite good and reasonably priced. Yellow Tail is growing in popularity here and will probably rise in price. Kangaroo Ridge looks to be a sleeper at the moment. I'll have to check out their merlot.

Recently we tried a South African shiraz. The label was Long Neck and had a giraffe on it. It was quite good, though not quite as good as the Aussie versions.

[hrrunka]

We occasionally see a few WA wines, but they don't really produce enough to satisfy their own domestic market. Only the biggest vinyards export anything much...

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

Even before I ever saw "Sideways" (which I loved), I never really had a taste for merlot. Cabernet sauvignons are usually too tannic for me, so shiraz/syrahs really hit the spot - huge fruit flavors, but not too harsh. I've found even a so-so Australian shiraz can be quite drinkable, and when they're spot-on, it's heaven. Pair it up with a tasty steak...{drool}

I'm sure it's rare that you and your partner find yourselves in the Chicago burbs, but if you do I highly recommend that you stop by Sam's Wine and Liquors (http://www.samswine.com) - they have a location in Downer's Grove at Butterfield and 355 and are soon going to be opening a location in Highland Park, just off US 41 in the old Dominicks location. They have a HUGE selection, excellent prices, and, on weekends, usually have tastings going on. We were at their location in the city last weekend and one of their extremely-helpful staff was pouring us samples of single-malt Scotch (sold us on a $60 bottle of Aberlour a'bunadh, too). Gods, I love that place!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I've been in Sam's once or twice years ago. Not recently. When we lived in the city, we liked the selection at the Chalet on Halsted St.

Out here, the closest to a decent selection of wines appears to be at the Armanetti's in Woodstock. I imagine there are some good places in Rockford, but we don't often brave the traffic to go there.

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

I can't say I blame you - if I lived in the country where you are I wouldn't want to deal with ANY traffic :-) (Meanwhile, it's the Edens every day for me. I'm in a special kind of Hell...)

Armanetti's is a weird place. They tend to pop up all over the place out in the furthest reaches of the Chicago burbs, and in my experience have an astonishing selection for the area. The Armanetti's in Antioch is just fabulous, and though Sam's has the better selection, they frequently beat Sam's on price.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, when you're in Woodstock looking for the Armanetti's (it's on IL47, west side) don't miss Vaughan's Restaurant next door. Home style cooking and pretty cheap. I get to visit Armanetti's if we happen to go to Vaughan's. :)

The Armanetti's has actual wine grapes growing up the front of it. They are bearing right now, too.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

I've only discovered wine recently. Shiraz /is/ goodly so
I'll have to check out this new stuff.

I go with red for both the health benefits and I simply like
a good red, not too dry, maybe a touch sweet. The Chillable Red
box wine I like:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art12405.asp

Yes yes, its cheap. I tend towards that because my
contrary nature makes me seek out good cheapness instead
of, "Oh yes, that cost me 900 dollars" *chugchugchug* "Isn't
it delicious?" *looks at his glass and gets a funny feeling
and hasn't even imbibed yet* ^_^

But really, for my, personal, palate, I like it.

Though I'll have to try this Kanga Ridge you speak of.

[kyhwana.livejournal.com]

Probably because everyone on the west coast gets to it first? ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Nah. Californians think their own wines are too good for them to bother with any of that foreign stuff. ;P