Australian Shiraz

Ange: Hi guys, I’m Ange from iYellow Wine Club and today we’re here with Taylor Thompson at Reds in the Financial District, downtown Toronto talking about Australian Shiraz. And I know that when we all think of Australia we think of Shiraz and Taylor here is going to give us a little bit of rundown what is Australia, what is shiraz and why are the two so great for each other? Hey Taylor, welcome! Taylor Thompson: Hi, thank you. So we’ll get rolling here. This is the Dog Ridged “Digs” Vineyard Shiraz. Now it’s, Dog Ridge is a family owned vineyard. It’s owned by the Howard family in McLaren Vale in Australian. A lot of classic shirazes are coming from Barossa but also a lot of classic Australian shirazes are from McLaren Vale. McLaren Vale’s a little bit cooler of a climate, certainly a little bit longer of ripening period. Now I actually have an intimate knowledge of this wine because I’ve worked on this vineyard and I stayed for a week at the Chateau of Dog Ridge if you will and I actually picked some grapes there and get some time in the vineyard and a couple of things I learned about the vineyard that really, really impressed me were the sustainable viticulture they’re doing. Now Dog Ridge has won an award recently because they invented this water recycling program actually where they take the water that drains through their vineyards and then they bring it back up through a well and they use it to water again. So they’re conserving water and then next to their Duck Chase vineyard which is there new kind of organic style vineyard. Ange: Duck Chase Vineyard, Dog Ridge Shiraz. Taylor Thompson: Yes, they like the animals in Australia I tell you but basically they’ve made a habitat there that used to just be kind of a wasteland and they planted all these trees and now animals just live there and they’re basically just using their might to give back to the land. So I just, I was blown away by that and initially what got me there was the fact that I was blown away by the wines. Ange: Yes, I mean Australia’s you get that New World that they were sort of the emerging New World, you know geographical location that was making wine. And then you get this eco-friendly trend that sort of has transferred over to new world to old world and everyone’s moving towards a very eco-friendly way of doing business. Taylor Thompson: Yes, it is, it is the way to go these days. Now, this particular Shiraz vineyard was planted in 1940, so this is an old vineyard. Ange: 60-year-old wines. Taylor Thompson: Yes and these are, I mean this is their Mid Range Shiraz. They’ve got their entry level one is called the Pup. Ange: This is the Dog Ridge. Taylor Thompson: This is the Digs Vineyard and Digs I guess is where you live. I always thought it’s what you’re wearing but I guess it’s where you live in Australia. They call this the Digs vineyard because it’s right beside the guy’s house. And then they’ve the MVP which is like one of my favorite Shirazes of all time. But this to me is probably $45 Shiraz that you can pick up. You can enjoy it right away or you can actually lay this down for 10 years. Ange: And what would you expect in 10 years from an Australian Shiraz? Taylor Thompson: Well, basically when a wine ages, it softens, right? It browns a little. The oakeness is really, really prevalent at first because they’re using all new brand new French oak barrels on these wines, sparing no money of course, so the oak will settle down a little bit and it’s quite, quite vibrantly fruity right now. There’s a lot of blackberry fruit in there, some of those will start, yes. Ange: You can see from the color. Taylor Thompson: Some of those will start to fade away the true fruit aromas which are really understood and also makes the wine more versatile. As the flavors start coming together, then it will pair off nicely with food because there’s not as many like sharp, fragrant pieces coming at you, right? Ange: But then at the same time, many people would really like that full bodiedness in the Shiraz. That’s what they enjoy about the fact that it’s there and it’s in your face and they love the flavored profile in their mouth. So you mean, you can actually have both. You can have both types of consumers that enjoy a long lasting, you know flavorful but well aged Shiraz but you can also have that very young flavored profile in your mouth as well. Taylor Thompson: Just to open up a new topic that we won’t talk about for too long because I know the whole world of wine just won’t, so I won’t be quiet about this one but they went from cork to screw cap, from ’02 to ’03 and I’ve got some other ’02 Shirazes under cork and there’re ’03 Shirazes in my own cellar under screw cap. So what really be interesting after about 10 years to see how the wines aged side by side that I think for the first time ever will have a definitive answer of the screw cap as soon as my Shirazes are ready. Ange: Wow, so tune in, 10 years from now we’re tasting what Taylor on Shirazes that are going to age under screw cap from Australia. Well cheers to Australian Shiraz! Thanks, Taylor. Taylor Thompson: Yes, once again this is the Dog Ridge Shiraz, McLaren Vale, not available on the LCBO. It’s available through Le Sommelier. So you can contact Bernard at Le Sommelier, bernard@lesommelier.com. So these wines are fantastic. They’ve got an Entry Level, a Mid Range and High End Wine and we serve the full force of the Shiraz. I’m a big supporter of the vineyard and what they’re doing for the environment as well as for the palate. Ange: And check them over the wine go to dogridge.com. Thanks. Taylor Thompson: Thanks. Ange: Cheers.