A bit of dinner and a lot of Aussie Shiraz.

Appetizers – assorted cheese & bread, marcona almonds (evil, evil food) and mozzarella caprese with my homegrown tomatoes and basil, buffalo mozzarella and an olive oil/balsamic vinegar drizzle.

Surprisingly the tomato appetizer went quite well with the champagne.

1997 Bonnaire Brut de Blancs Champagne – 90 points; $38
Smooth, creamy with vanilla notes and airiness in the mouth. Brought by one of the guests and a fine choice.

Below are the wines served with an informal dinner. They were poured blind from decanters in no particular order and were decanted 2 hours. The only thing the attendees knew was that the wines were Australian Shiraz. We ate and discussed other things while we sampled the wines. After about 15 minutes the games began. The informal empty glass survey favored Wine #1 which was the Integrity. Unfortunately I poured it first and the HD Reserve second by random order. Nothing else came close.

Dinner – simple because of the heat. Grilled steak and shrimp kabobs with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans.

2001 Marquis Philips Integrity Shiraz - 94 Winetex; $88; Poured first and WOTN

This is one of the most dark-colored wines I’ve ever seen. It is stunning but about as elegant as a 2X4. I thought it was excellent but no 99 point wine. You can’t go wrong with this wine as long as you obtain it under $100. It has one of the longest finishes of any wine I’ve had.

2001 Henry's Drive Reserve Shiraz - 93 Winetex; $42; Poured second
This wine was showing extremely well. It had a great deal of complexity with bitter chocolate and pepper. Its flavors seemed a bit more integrated than the Integrity. This wine a true buy at $40-$50 and a real step up from the regular HD. Impressive that there was true differences in the two HD wines.

2001 Henry's Drive Shiraz - 90 Winetex; $29; Poured fifth
It was poured late in the order and came across as less complex and a bit more fruit forward than the other two MP wines. Again a very good wine at a good price.

1992 Penfold's Grange Hermitage - 90 Winetex; $151; Poured third

I wanted to try aged Grange so I placed this one in the group. Everyone picked this one out as an aged wine but no one guessed Grange. It was very smoky and had a great deal of cedar on the finish. The fruit had receded into the background. Clearly it was very high quality and changed dramatically from the time I opened it until it was poured. Bressler noted to check for some interesting aromas on opening that subsequently blew off. I was concerned with the provenance on this bottle and it seemed more aged than the reviews indicated. I have no way to judge this without trying more aged Grange.

Sadly it was 4 on most people’s list.

2002 Paringa Shiraz - 87 Winetex; $9; Poured fourth
Everyone nailed this one early on as the ringer but liked it. Rustic and one-dimensional but good quality at a great price.

There were only drops left in the decanters after this fun with Aussie Shiraz. Then we went on to port and dessert, adding insult to injury.

Dessert – A chocolate cake made with port brought by one of the guests. It was a great cake and complemented the wine below.

1992 Warre’s Late Bottled Port
My taste buds were so abused by Shiraz by this time that “very nice” was about the extent of my descriptor.

And a good time was had by all.