Out Of The Bottle
With David Ellis
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Masterful Bill's Barbecue Shiraz
If
Westend Estate’s 2007 Richland Shiraz was a beer, you’d be putting it
into the biggest glass you could find and quaffing it in great swallows
while the steaks cooked on the barbie.
But it’s a wine, so you’ve got to take it in smaller glasses and not throw it down with gusto.
Which
is easier said than done, because this Shiraz from the Riverina’s
masterful Bill Calabria is huge on varietal black plum, red currant and
spicy pepper flavours, and slips down the throat with a velvety
smoothness.
And remarkably it’s priced at just $11.99 so you can
enjoy a few now with family or friends around that barbecue, and put a
few aside for later when it’s gained a bit more complexity with a
couple of years aging.
Enjoy with beef fillet off the BBQ plate
accompanied with some lightly cooked mushrooms infused with a touch of
garlic, and a good dollop of polenta.
And here’s a tip: if it’s
a particularly warm day, pop the bottle in the fridge for 30 minutes
before opening to take a bit of heat off the glass; it’ll make it all
the more enjoyable – as it won’t be cold, but it won’t be too warm
either.
One For Lunch
The
Hunter Valley’s Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard has been selling a damn good
Tempranillo at cellar-door-only for some years now, and finally it’s
released its first of this varietal under the Audrey Wilkinson label.
It’s
done so from the 2007 harvest that was one of the earliest and best in
the Hunter’s history, and thus suited this early-ripening Spanish
varietal perfectly; the resultant wine has full-on black cherry and
spice aromas, and lovely dark- berry fruit flavours with accompanying
fine tannins.
At $19.99 how better to enjoy this Spanish beauty than with a hearty Paella?
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