2004 Heartland Director’s Cut Shiraz

Winery Page

My latest pickup from Garagiste had 2 different years of this puppy ready to go today, so I opened up the 2004 (being the most mature of the bunch) and had a go with my surf + turf (New York steak and Alaskan Black Cod). I had high hopes since this is a Ben Glaetzer wine, and he has had the Midas touch with Shiraz.

This was an excellent choice. It is a limestone coast wine, and you can taste it. It is very heavy and full bodied (my wife could not handle it) but balanced. The tannins are smooth and match the rest of the wine well at this age. If you like the Mitolo GAM then I think that you would certainly love this.

Now I have two of the 2004 and the 2005 left, and I am happy to have them. Hopefully I can resist drinking them for a while - I am keen to see how this evolves in the bottle. Highly recommended.

Wine Tasting at Seattle Wine Co

I went with Jeff to Seattle Wine Co today – they had a tasting of some Aussie wines so I tagged along. It was a great way to spend the first snowy day of the Seattle winter.

The Godolphin was much better than the first time I had it. I think that I opened it too young. The flavour was great the first time I had it, but it was too tannic and young. Now the tannins have been tamed a bit it is shaping up great.

I also tried the following:

• 2005 Kaesler Stonehorse Shriaz
• 2004 Glen Eldon Dry Bore Shriaz
• 2005 Delisio Krystina

Nothing bad here, but none of them had the big smack in my face that I was after. The Stonehorse was a light delicate shiraz to me (similar to a French style). The Dry Bore was different, and probably good value at around 20 bucks. The Delisio was tasty, but also more of the refined delicate style.

What I decided to buy instead was some Cimicky Trumps (because the last bottle I had was pretty good before my in-laws drank it all) and a bunch of Mollydooker (because after my great Stella’s garden experience lately, I have been craving the 16% big style).