Tasting Note

                 Sydney Time

           Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008

Torzi Matthews 2005 Frost Dodger Shiraz Aug 07

If ever there was a case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the bottle wine, this is it! Despite spending many hours in the glass, when I first sniffed it was completely unyielding. In fact, despite the fact it was sealed under screwcap, it was muted to the point that I thought the wine may have been corked; now that would be a worry. So convinced was I, but I got another glass and poured a fresh sample out. The second sample showed bright, lifted and expressive fruit with loads of floral notes. It was gorgeous. The conclusion I came to, was that the first glass had contained a corked wine previously and had not been cleaned properly. That was until I tasted the wine. The first glass tasted absolutely fine. Then I tasted the wine from the second glass, and blow me down, it seems slightly thin an acidic by comparison to the first.

The pure, deep, strong fruit is backed by velvety tannins and produces a muscular-weight, solid wine with a supple consistency and harmonious complexity. The palate is luscious, with sweet fruit delivering rich and sumptuous black jube like flavours, with black coffee and other black flavours. Despite the black profile of the wine, there is absolutely nothing over-ripe about it, and it finishes long with loads of intense flavour. Another very credible effort, it can easily be consumed over the next eight years and is rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value.

This wine changes dramatically over the course of an eight hour period, so to make sure you get the best from it, decant and give it a couple of hours of air before drinking.