The 2007 Plantagenet Hazard Hill Shiraz is 100% Shiraz sourced mainly from the Great Southern, Blackwood and Geographe growing areas of Western Australia (most of the Australian Shiraz you see on the shelves is sourced from Southeastern Australia). The 2007 vintage was one of the warmest growing seasons ever in Western Australia and the grapes ripened very quickly. The grapes from the different vineyards were fermented separately and also aged separately in either stainless steel tanks or oak barrels, after aging the different lots of wine where blended, then bottled. The alcohol content is a reasonable for an Australian Shiraz, 14%.
The color is deep, dark, opaque ruby red. The nose is interesting, it has some of that Pinot Noir funky thing going on, mushroom, herbs, cherry jam, a little meat cooking on the grill and minty chewing gum. It tastes of blueberry, followed blackberry, then tea and dark chocolate. The mid palate shows light dose of Shiraz spice, cocoa powder and raisin. The tannins are smooth, there is no tannin bite, and the acidity is balanced. The finish starts off strong, then fades quickly, but it does linger on.
The 2007 Plantagenet Hazard Hill Shiraz is a full bodied, fruit forward (with savory undertones), but balanced wine. This is the 2007 vintage, the current vintage is 2009 and it is still on the store shelves, this tells you something about the state of Australian wine. The largest Australian wine importer went bankrupt at exactly the same time Shiraz/Syrah quit being the flavor of the month. Australian wines have been languishing on the shelves, some wine shops have cut their supply of Australian wine in half. The downturn in Australian wine sales had nothing to do with wine quality or cost, Australian wine gave great value for the buck then and give great bang for the buck now.
