Under $25 Shiraz night results!

[winewhisperer]

6 Shiraz enthusiasts with a bottle each under wraps with a price cap of $25. The unanimous winner was Jeanneret Rank & File 2015, with joint runner ups Mollydooker The Boxer and Charle Melton Father in Law 2014. Clearly we all seem to enjoy a big shiraz !. Any one had any similar nights recently?

[Mahmoud Ali]

... with joint runner ups Mollydooker The Boxer ... Clearly we all seem to enjoy a big shiraz !

Ouch, big indeed, and sweet I presume.

Not had either the Jeanneret nor the Melton but guessing from the names they are entry level style wines. My friends and I have themed dinner tastings but they have been related to varieties (such as pinot) and not price.

Mahmoud.

[winewhisperer]

... with joint runner ups Mollydooker The Boxer ... Clearly we all seem to enjoy a big shiraz !

Ouch, big indeed, and sweet I presume.

Not had either the Jeanneret nor the Melton but guessing from the names they are entry level style wines. My friends and I have themed dinner tastings but they have been related to varieties (such as pinot) and not price.

Mahmoud.

We are just beginners so sticking with what we know best up till now, but we did discuss trying to broaden our taste with a "anything but shiraz" night!
The Jeanneret wines are very similar to Mollydooker but with some regional characters, its my favourite winery in SA. By having a price limit we are trying to find those hidden gems that seem to deliver beyond their price and i think the $25 range has a lot to offer. Looking to ween myself onto some other red varieties, and i recently had a Spanish Grenache from Barsao - Tres Picos which was within the price range and was wonderful!

[Mahmoud Ali]

I did not mean to be disaparaging in any way, just that having tried the Mollydooker (it is my cousin and her husband's favourite) it was not my style. Barsao's 'Tres Pocos' is also another wine I haven't tried but from what I've heard it is a very nice wine. By all means continue with your themes, whether cabernet, pinot, or grenache, etc. And it is a very god idea for beginners to consider a budget theme. There are any number of reasonably priced wines that can make excellent mid-term cellaring and best more vaunted wines given an opportunity.

I would love to know how a Tahbilk Shiraz might have fared in your tasting.

Cheers ..................... Mahmoud.

[Phil H]

Hi Winewhisperer, I have had many a wine themed night with liked minded friends. The most levelling theme is "Bring your favourite wine". This opens up the price vs quality question. Your favourite wine may be a a regular cheapie that you always love, or it might be a ""grange". All wines tasted blind, with guests awarded points for variety, region, price,vintage, and even guessing if it's your wine as well as rating the wine.
It's amazing when the most expensive wine is rated the lowest(it actually happened). Hopefully you have friends that don't take it too seriously, and accomodate the not so wine nerds in the group . All in good fun.

[Ian S]

Hi Phil
Back in the days when I knew little about wine, our tasting group used to taste (non-blind not that it mattered, as I was gloriously ignorant) a range of wines on a broad theme, and as well as writing basic TNs we used to say how much we'd be comfortable paying for a bottle of that wine. It really was wonderful at focusing the mind, such that a wine that was much cheaper than your number was something you'd be looking to buy.

Indeed for all the nonsense of scoring wines, this is really the only meaningful score we can give a wine - how much AUD would you pay to have a bottle of it? Attach a date and TN to this score and it really is all you need.

regards
Ian