WTN: Cathedral Cellars Shiraz 2003

Coastal Region.
KWV International

Dark cherry red in the glass.

A huge and complex nose: very earthy, forest floor, turning to leather. Later, it showed floral notes, spicy, chocolate and dusty cherry.

Spicy and tangy, with cherry and raspberry and something akin to hot cinnamon at first. With time, the wine became weighter and more full and rounded: fairly juicy fruit, rich, with a not unpleasant bitter streak, particularly toward the end.

With even more time, the wine became leaner, with the bitterness becoming more pronounced and a charred note coming through as well.

A tangy/mouthwatering finish, with leather, rich berry fruit, and some bitterness.

I have always been impressed by the Cathedral Cellars line of wines and I was fascinating by how many changes this wine went through in the course of an evening.

Purchased at $16.95 (Canadian).

Bruce,

Like you, I too have been a fan of KWV's Cathedral Cellars lineup - for years in fact. I consider their Cab to be one of the best $17 Cabs I have ever been able to buy here in Ontario. I believe that I've seen their Merlot too - must give it a try.

Thanks for the note on the Shiraz. It almost sounds like a Pinotage with the leathery bitterness - can't wait to try it.

And, speaking of Pinotage: I do wish that Vintages would bring in Cathedral Cellars' varietal Pinotage next. KWV's Pinotage, which used to be available in Ontario years ago, was always a real steal and had plenty of the leathery-black-table-grape flavour that I so adore about the grape. I miss those regular-list ageworthy Pinotages that we used to have here in the late 90s - they tended to range in price from $8-13 and were really fine quality.