C'mon, Can I get a Woop Woop?

Ah yes.... to commemorate our 10 years together, the Big Dubya and I opened a bottle of Woop Woop Shiraz.

Yes, I know..... Darren & Sue already reviewed Woop Woop a month or so ago, but we had it on the old wine rack, so.... we thought this would be a good time to see just how wine-compatible we all were. As I recall, Darren liked the Woop Woop (yeah, I'm going to keep writing it 'cause saying Woop Woop over and over again makes me giggle) and Sue thought it was a bit on the heavy side.

Now, it could be that different years have different attributes and textures, but the Big Dubya and I really liked the 2006 we had this evening (Darren & Sue had the 2004).

Wine.com has the following winemakers notes:

It is deep in colour and the nose is inviting. With oodles of rich, opulent Shiraz fruit the palate delivers a lush mouthfeel, bursting with blackberry fruit juice, blueberry jam and licorice - chock full of quintessential Aussie character.

I tend to like wines that complement, rather than over power. I tend to like subtle flavors -- rather than bold..... and I really enjoyed this bottle. I found it to have a nice roundness and a flavor that was full and rich -- without being heavy.... perhaps it was because "The wine is matured with the light use of French and American oak."

The Big Dubya thought it was "satisfying" -- fruity -- and complimented the pasta we had for dinner... not conflicting with the acidity of the tomato sauce at all.

We both agreed that it was light on the tannins and that we agreed that we wished we had a second bottle.... Wine.com has it listed as $10.79 -- that sounds like roughly what we paid.

Bottom line -- It's a nice glass, would definitely buy again.
Cheers!

Archetype Shiraz: Sometimes Pairing is Everything

The day before I found out about this blog I drank a bottle (well, my husband and I drank a bottle) of Archetype Shiraz. I had never tried it before and I really liked it. It was a big round flavor. We drank it with some Cambozola cheese and crackers (I highly recommend this cheese if you haven't had it. You can get it at Trader Joe's for under $5. It is good with every wine.)

I loved this wine. I had to go to the store and buy it again to review it because 1) I had no idea how much I paid for it, 2) I couldn't remember anything except I loved it and 3) I didn't know where it came from.

Archetype is from the Barossa region of South Australia. I tend to buy Shiraz if it says Barossa on the bottle because the grapes seem to have a very rich deep flavor.

What was my point? Oh yeah, so I bought another bottle - it was $12.99 at Wine Warehouse, I think they have it featured this month. I brought it home and we drank it with chicken tacos.

It wasn't nearly as good. It tasted sort of bitter with the pico and jalapeno flavors. I am learning, but I am still often surprised at how important pairing your wine is.


I will definitely buy this wine again, but next time I am going to drink it with some steak or a roast or some other red meat. I bet it would be great with hamburgers, especially if you used bleu cheese or Gorgonzola on it. I think the Shiraz needs fat to compliment it. I wouldn't drink it with anything spicy again.

(Check out the cheese - it rocks.)