St. Hallett Gamekeeper’s Reserve
Wine: St. Hallett Gamekeeper's Reserve
Grapes: Grenache (70 percent), shiraz, mourvedre, touriga francesa
Region: Barossa Valley, southern Australia
Vintage: 2007
Price: $9.99
In the glass: Gamekeeper's Reserve wine appears amazing looking already in the glass, with a densely opaque core, streaks of bright ruby-red with pinkish to clear, bright rim definition and a viscosity one won't believe without seeing how dense it is.
On the nose: It is nicely complex to start with, and there are massive extracted crushed red and black fruits with raspberry sherbet, blueberry compote, blackberry juice, licorice components, minerals and spicy wood box.
On the palate: In the mouth, Gamekeeper's Reserve is an onslaught of fruit that just attacks and coats the palate with outrageous intensity. There are loads of concentrated black and red fruits with mixed red berries, black cherry, and a superbly delineated midpalate with an incredibly long finish for a wine in this category.
Odds and ends: Every time I taste this, it is worth writing about. While the last time was two years ago, it remains a wine of tremendous proportions made from the world's weirdest blend of grape varietals. There are Rhone Valley (France), Australian and Portuguese varietals in here, but it works just beautifully in this fruit bomb of a wine. You have to try this with something straight off the barbie, mate, as they say Down Under.
It also is a great value at less than $10. Get it while you can, because it will fly off the shelves -- and you'll have to fight me at the checkout line. Gamekeeper's Reserve should drink well during the next three to four years.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.
