Friday evening I had a most enjoyable time with new friends. A short elevator ride to the 11th floor and I was graciously welcomed in. My hosts were originally from Australia and did have some lovely Australian wine to share.
Those familiar with my Washington wine blog, know that I am partial to Syrah. Quite fond of in fact, I was pleasantly surprised when a bottle of Australian Shiraz Viognier was opened and shared. This is my third week living in the United Arab Emirates. My consumption of alcohol here has been minimal, and my intake of wine has been non-existant, until Friday night.
I am not an expert on Australian wines. Back home, only the basic bulk Australian reds are usually available (certainly not the best examples of what Australia produces). I was quite intrigued by the bottle of Yering Station 2005 Shiraz Viognier my host presented. Intrigued? Anxious, eager and salivating with anticipation is more like it. It had been almost a month without any Syrah/Shiraz! I was not disappointed.
We were instantly greeted by enticing fruit and a whif of earth, a touch of taragon gently expressed itself the longer the wine was open. Not that the wine was open for long. The bottle went faster than usual, I could barely restrain myself. While not a formal tasting, and the pace was a bit faster than usual, I have to admit that I really liked this wine. I did a little research and found a link to the tasting notes for this vintage, see following link:
http://www.yering.com/cpa/htm/htm_mod_link.asp?id=1478
I have no idea what this wine costs here. I can't even purchase a bottle of wine at the liquor store yet. But when I can, I'm going hunting for the Yering Station Shiraz Viognier. Recommended!
*note: We also opened a bottle of Chilean Malbec (no I don't remember which one) and it was also very good (I remember mocha in the mid-palette) I'll look out for that one again and write about it when I find it.
Cheers!
