Chilli-hefty Chinese/ Japanese pork broth may not be the ideal match for a red wine, though the notes with the pack suggested a match with pepper steak, but I found the wine to be a pleasant enough little drop with subtle tannins and a rounded mouthfeel.
I thought it was a pretty good indication of what's possible through judicious blending of parcels of fruit within the ubiquitous Southeast Australia without hitting any great heights. Pleasant drinking, would have gone well with the pizza and was the sort of wine that I could have sat down to polish off over the next hour or two if extreme tiredness wasn't a significant factor.
Actually, it’s one of those wines that I'd probably have reordered a few years ago, good buying at that price point but while we were en route to Stanthorpe we ended up with a dozen Merlots from an unanticipated stop at Kooroomba, which fill the wine rack niche that the intended for export (but presumably order cancelled) Hell Raiser might have occupied.
You could say many of the same things about the Tyrone 2007 Merlot and the Circle Collection 2008 Shiraz (TWS $10.99 Reorder $9.34 in both cases).
Both originate from the same irrigated vineyards that provide the majority of wines at and below this price point. Well made, deeply coloured, the right elements on the nose without making you want to spend a lengthy period with your hooter rammed into the top of the glass, and soft tannins as the wine passes the palate, both are perfect examples of what's possible when you're operating in this environment. Really, in terms of barbeque, pasta or pizza reds you probably couldn't go wrong with either of these (or the Yarraman for that matter).
The problem, however, is that there are a swag of similar wines out there, most of them at similar price points. These three reds are as good as any of them, and better than most, but in an environment where I'm looking a bit above that price point as a general rule I'm more likely to pick up something on special from one of the wineries I buy directly from, rather than grabbing a dozen of one of these.
Unless, of course, I find something that really grabs my attention, which, fortunately or unfortunately, wasn't the case this time around.
