Dense, black ruby, staining and impenetrable.  Big floral bouquet dangerously tipping the scales toward a flabby potential but all of the lovely wet earth, sandlewood and pine-pitch keep it gorgeous.  This think smells like the Nepenthe book-store.  Old carpet, lots of cedar, piles of candles, books, silver jewelry and a few hippies.  But everybody’s driving a Mercedes.  Oh how I love Barossa.  Here on the Central Coast of CA, Australian wines on the shelves run very bad and very cheap–when you can find them.  So when you find a decent one, you buy it.  This one is VERY decent and I bought several.  Late-breathe it really starts flabbing up though, nutty and round.  Marzipan and pond-water with a little heat in the background.  In the mouth, big sweet fruit, thick-feeling and ultra-ripe.  NyQuil-flabby, prune-plums and pear-sauce keep everything chalkily bearable and ample pepper and more of that heat do a decent job of maintaining balance.  Tannins mild–more than anything the pepper heat is your memory.  And thick fruit.
♦
2009 ROCLAND ESTATE Shiraz Barossa Valley  14-5