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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Wine Week: d'Arenberg Shiraz 2008 The Stump Jump


Finding a 90-point wine at your local store's Saturday free tasting is a very pleasant surprise. Finding it at $10 is even more pleasant. And then realizing that this very same wine placed 82 on the Wine Spectator's annual list of Top 100 Wines of the year is just a very happy coincidence.

We had tasted The Stump Jump white, one of the other low-end "Stumpies" made by this great Australian winery, but had not tasted the Shiraz, which is what the Australians call their Syrah grapes. This Rhone-style wine, which had been sitting open for some time, tasted great at the store. We bought a couple of bottles because our local dealer only had a couple left.

When we opened the first bottle two nights ago, it was a bit rough and sharp tasting. So, we let it sit open for a couple of hours, then vacuumed the air out and put it up for the night. Two days later we opened it to pleasant aromas of berries.
Despite sitting open for the two hours, the taste was fresh and fruity (in a good way). This is an everyday wine that would sit well with pork or chicken, pasta or salad. It went incredibly well with the Chinese stir-fry we happened to be having for dinner.

If you see it, buy it. Only 5,000 cases were imported.

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