Producer: Sylvan Springs
Grapes: Shiraz (presumably 100%, but it doesn’t say so on the tech sheet)
Appellation: McLaren Vale (Australia)
Vineyard: Soils are “grey sand over ironstone gravel layer over orange permeable clay.” At least some of the fruit comes from the Blewitt Springs sub-region.
Winemaking: No new oak – the wine spent 12 months in a mix of 2-4 year old French and American oak barrels.
Alcohol: 14.6%
Price: I paid around $12 or $13 at Costco. I found the receipt: $10.99
My tasting notes: Big, wild, brambly fruit on the nose along with floral/violet and cedar notes. It’s a bit “fumey” from the alcohol. On the palate, it’s dense and weighty, hitting you with smooth-textured, mouth-filling blackberry and black currant flavors with an herbal edge. Despite the extracted fruit, it manages to feel tense, muscular – I even wrote down lean, though that’s often used to indicate lack of fruit, which isn’t the case here. There’s a very nice minerality as well and it finishes with a pleasant little sharpness or bitterness.
Overall impression: This is striking the right chord for me tonight. Give me expressive fruit, but balanced with minerality and acid, and I’m a happy wino. B+
Free association:
More info:
2000 cases produced.
This wine was scored 90 points by Jay Miller in Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate.
I’m kinda Shiraz’d out at the moment. I just had to leave a comment because of the Jack Black photo! Plus you have such a different selection of wine at your Costco than I do at mine. I am still on the effin search for the Cote du Rhone you reviewed a month ago.
Josh @nectarwine on twitter
Yeah, my sense is that Costco stores do vary quite a bit. That’s part of their hook: you never know what they’ll have or for how long. Hope you’re able to find the Galevan somewhere.
So are you a Jack Black fan?
Just for trivial info, Costco stores here in Tennessee aren’t allowed to sell wine or spirits (same goes for all grocery stores). So the Costcos have little local, independent wine shops attached to them. They don’t carry the Costco wines, you don’t use your Costco card and they’re run completely separately from the main store, but folks still think of it as “Costco”, and ask for things like the Kirkland brand Champagne.
I lived in Memphis for 10 year so I’m familiar with the draconian rules regarding alcohol sales. I remember how most of the liquor stores were connected to a “separate” convenience store business that sold beer, ice, etc.