Pretty Sally 2004 Estate Shiraz

I've been drinking almost exclusively white wine for the last six weeks or so and I have been getting a bit bored. So in order to spice things up a bit I decided to open this bottle of Shiraz that I bought from Garagiste a few months back. For those of you unfamiliar with this Seattle based online retailer, I highly recommend subscribing to their daily e-mail update list and purchasing a few bottles.

According to my email the Pretty Sally 2004 Estate Shiraz was:

Known for their cool-toned take on Victorian Shiraz, Pretty Sally has been featured here many times but this is the slimmest tariff (by far) we’ve ever offered on the Estate Shiraz. If it means anything, this is the highest rated Pretty Sally wine ever from Tanzer’s IWC and it represents a Victorian take on ripeness with a more regal approach. The 2004 Estate Shiraz is the grand vin from the estate (not a second wine) and it was never intended to trade for a bargain price (let alone $13.99).

If you read the review below, this sounds like one of the very best price/value examples we’ve offered in 2009:

Tanzer’s IWC (Josh Raynolds): “($25) Ruby-red. Smoky aromas of fresh blackberry, cassis and candied cherry lifted by sweet licorice and bright minerality. The flavors offer a compelling combination of power and focus; raspberry and blackberry notes build and sweeten through the finish but there's also juicy quality providing focus and vivacity. Finishes supple and sweet, with lingering flavors of dark fruit liqueur. A rather graceful style of shiraz, with impressive concentration. 91pts”

Unfortunately I was not quite as impressed. After opening the bottle I noticed it's beautiful color and big jammy nose of raspberry, boysenberry and dried cherries. There was also a tangy sour note which reminded me of a Jolly Rancher candy and was enjoyable. After 30 minutes in the decanter the wine opened up a bit further and nuances of cocoa and cloves emerged. However at this point the finish became a bit more sharp and lost the Jolly Rancher feel, which was kind of upsetting. While Tanzer compares this to dark fruit liquers, I would say it bore more resemblance to cherry cough syrup. We enjoyed this wine with a nice mushroom pasta with grilled green beans. The undecanted portion of the wine was sealed and left overnight in the fridge. Unfortunatley the wine deteriorated significantly overnight and lost most all of it's charming characteristics.

At $13.99 I expected a little bit more and I think that there are substantially better deals out their in the red wine universe, especially if you want to enjoy the wine of two nights. Worth a try if you are big fan of the varietal, otherwise I would recommend looking elsewhere. 7/10