Pepper Explosion

Disclaimer:  I received this wine as a sample from Wines of Australia

I really haven't drank much Australian wine lately.  I few years ago I was kind of turned off by the sweetness of the wines I was tasting.  I am glad I participated in this tweetchat that landed me two great wines from Australia.   Yes, I have changed my opinion.

Plantagenet Shiraz is from the Western Australia's Great Southern region.  Plantagenet was the first winery to be established in Western Australia's Great Southern wine region.  The winery was founded in 1968 by Tony Smith who saw great potential for planting vines in this region.   The grapes for this wine came mostly from Wyjup and Bouvray vineyards.  The Shiraz spent 24 months in French oak and had an alcohol level of 14.6%.

I'm a big fan of pepper and the aromas coming from my glass were just that pepper, white pepper to be exact.  After you got past the aromas of pepper, there made way to some juicy cherry and blackberry with hints of chocolate.

The palate explodes with pepper leading to a layered complexity of spicy black cherry and dark berry notes.  It had a very nice mouth feel and was nicely balanced.  This was a keeper in my book.  Now hopefully if I can find a store around here that sells it.