Dominique Portet Shiraz 2002

Sadly, I only had one bottle of this left – and I opened it just now only to find that it was corked. Based on the previous bottles of this I’ve enjoyed over the years, though, I’ll leave this not-a-tasting-note up here as a reminder of the quality of the other bottles; this wine is a good example of New World wine made with a nod towards Old World sensibilities: it’s not over-oaked, not overly alcoholic, and yet hasn’t artificially been limited in its elevage so that it slavishly mimics Old World wines. Instead, what you get is a wine that walks the line between the two: fully ripe New World fruit, yet with earth and minerality (subtle, but it’s there). Even relatively soon after its release – a year or two, if memory serves – it had characteristics of older wines: a relatively flat, gracious palate with fine grained tannins and a rich nose of sweet brambly fruit.I’ll miss this stuff and hope to find more of it again in the future.Dominique Portet
Price: $20
Closure: Cork

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