Penfolds Bin 128 2005 Shiraz

*Bottle #18: Penfolds Bin 128 2005 Coonawarra Shiraz

*Price: $20 (on average)

*Running Tab: $250

Back to Coonawarra, land of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape of Australia and home to the originally to Shiraz vines. Pinned down as Australia's claim to fame in the late 1800's, the Shiraz grape supposedly originated from Persia/Iran, before the French planted their legendary Syrah in the Rhone Valley.

Watch this slick guy... Shiraz IS Syrah! Australia vs. France, respectively. 

Just to snub the French where I "was" for the past two weeks, I "went back" to Australia on my magically, mystery wine tour of fiction for the great Shiraz/Syrah challenge. Mainly because of budgetary cutbacks - I dipped into the cellar only to travel back to the Land Down Under because it was my only international wine available... Honesty is blowing my cover as a wealthy sommelier! 

Penfolds holds the title as Australia's "first growth" wine and is considered to be one of its finest productions in the grape industry. Other than the lovely licks of Costco's high-selling Yellowtail Wines, Penfolds is one of the most recognizable and palatable labels from Oz. Penfolds Grange (their reserve label), comprised of mostly Shiraz with help from Cab, has received several 99s (out of 100) from Wine Spectator Magazine and wine critic Robert Parker Jr. croons over the "concentrated and exotic" blend. 

I'm really not going to sugarcoat it but the Bin 128 2005 Shiraz would not fall into the category I thought this lionized wine would have.

At its finest moment (which was nearly an hour and a half later after screwing off the top), the Shiraz was a nice table wine. 

The ruby red color faded as the wine hit the rim, hinting at its young age but giving a promise of plush fruit from the nose which offered blackberries, blueberries, cinnamon and a lot of black pepper. What took me the longest time to pinpoint was the meaty note in the bouquet - I'm not sure if I've been able to pull that out of any of my past wines but Penfolds gave a very distinct gamey scent to the wine. 

And there was that meat in the mouth as well but less prominent. A little bit of fruit and pepper from the nose transfered over as well. The wine was balanced with soft tannins that had a decent amount of grip to them but not so much that it felt as if my teeth were wearing pajamas. Now that is potent astringency. 

Alas, nothing in this wine was potent, powerful or exceptional. Like your very first kiss - it probably was okay for what it was, tasted fine but didn't shake you to the core. Like that kisser, the wine will probably get better when it's older. I'd lay this down for awhile and give it another try in a couple years.

It was simple, which I've had issues with in the past (kissing and wine) and that descriptor just doesn't seem to float my boat.

Score: 6.5.