Following up John’s earlier review, today must be affordable Shiraz review day!
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has often times seemed like an ugly behemoth who greatly inflates prices and restricts access. While not completely untrue, that image is not entirely accurate either. This Durbanville Hills is a perfect example of what the buying power of the LCBO can do (the LCBO turns a 1+ billion profit annually on sales of 5+ billion, the math behind their purchasing is powerful). At $11.95 this wine is inexpensive yet represents a good table wine that LCBO is able to bring in where a smaller import environment would most probably ignore. As the costs of production continue to increase around the world and the dollar fluctuations of late, it is nice to have a large organization work overseas to bring in wine from all regions and price ranges.
All that said, this South African offering brings enough to the table to warrant a second try as your day to day table red wine. It has a nice clear red colour with hints of rust. The nose is red fruit with a slight bit of pepper. The first sips show a young wine with firm tannins, with an average length finish. The red tree fruit becomes more apparent with sweet cheeries being most predominant. The peppery taste is there with hints of cinnamon. While that balance is good, this wine is what it is, a table red. It will go nicely with BBQ season and can be paired with Thai, Szechuan and your standard grilled red meats. It is a good value in the $10-$15 range and a bottle or two for the summer should do you well as you delve into that hyper-competitive table wine range. This is a drink now through the next 1-3 years.
The CWG Subjective Rating is 84 out of 100.
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