Corks purchased a Chris Ringland Barossa Valley Shiraz 2009 from Dan Murphys on the weekend. A helpful gentleman employee of DM’s highly recommended the Ringland on the basis that it is not a typical “big”, fruit forward Aussie Shiraz, and it punches well above its weight in terms of value for money. At $25 a bottle, Corks bought it, in both senses of the word.
For when Corks opened it last night to celebrate the last night of the Ps being in town, it soon became clear the Ringland contains 16.8% alcohol. Sixteen point eight percent!! That is outrageous, and if I produced a table wine with the same alcohol content of a fortified wine, I’d put warning labels all over the bottle. In fact, I wouldn’t sell it as a table wine at all, rather as a bio-fuel.
I have written about high alcohol in wines many times. High alcohol tips good balance on its backside and produces a hot, volatile texture in the mouth which is rather unpleasant. I would be wary of buying any wine with more than 14.5% alcohol, so if I’d checked (or been warned by DM), I would have bought something else.
So what did the wine actually taste like? Well, it was fruit forward and big, but it did have some elegance about it. The mouth feel was silky enough, and would have been even finer had it not been for the alcohol content. P, with whom I opened the bottle enjoyed it, and commented how such a big wine would be a wonderful challenge to his mates back in Britain.
But Corks couldn’t get round the alcohol, and the liver flinching 9.8 standard units in each bottle. Better check the label next time.
