But I do go to tastings in my neighborhood, and this one was Oz Shiraz. Pretty interesting results. The six wines could easily be sorted into two equal piles: three of the wines were quite sweet, three were more savoury. 55 attendees whose tastes and experience level are all over the map voted for their top 3 wines, and though as usual every wine got at least one first place vote, one wine took first by a landslide unlike any I've ever seen before. It got 122 points, pulling votes from both the modernist (includes all the people who happily slurp Yellow Tail) and traditionalist camps, and putting the other five wines in a near dead heat for last place with an average of about just 40 points each (51, 39, 34, 34 and 32). From a group of voters this size that's a monstrous achievement.
The big winner:
2005 Amon-Ra Godolphin Parker called this a "beautiful marriage of power and elegance" and that's about right. Sweet, but less sweet than the two Two Hands entries, and remarkably silky with complex black and blue berry fruit. Though I would personally choose the three less-sweet wines to drink, I admired the finesse of this wine so much I gave it third place. Group first.
The rest:
2002 Two Hands Deer in the Headlights Sweet (second sweetest of the bunch) and rich with cassis and maple syrup. Has a glycerin mouthfeel, and is lively in spite of its size with a stone-fruit kind of tang like what comes from apricot and nectarine. Group second, my fifth.
2003 Penfolds St. Henri Starchy at first with salt and plain brown bag flavors. Those pulled back somewhat over time to show meaty tones with sage and blackberry. Great depth. I suspect that with a few more hours I could give this my first place vote, but for now I gave it fourth. Group third, a heartening result as I've been exposing these tasters to more and more traditionally styled wines. This proves, I hope, that I'm getting somewhere.
The two D'Arenberg wines were my 1st and 2nd place wines, and they tied for the group's 4th. 2002 D'Arenberg Dead Arm: Mint, salt, spice, dried basil, black currant. Subtly powerful. 2002 D'Arenberg Laughing Magpie: like a rustic version of the Dead arm with grippier tannins and an espresso finish.
In last place, the 2001 Two Hands Bella's Garden was dark and impenetrable, with heavy, jammy black fruit and the least acidity of all the wines. The brooding mid-palate led into a strong black licorice note in the finish. Personally, I detested it.
I too have always liked Dead Arm, and I was glad to get reaquainted with it for this tasting. I did the buying, and I got amazing prices--$37 for the Dead Arm and $35 for the Amon Ra, for instance.