Two Hands, The Bull and the Bear, Barossa Valley

Needs 20-30 min to open up; drinking well

Pop/pour. Opens up pretty unbalanced, with an inordinate amount of acidity and lack of fruit depth. Thankfully, this starts to show improvement with 10-15 minutes in the glass. At that point, a nose that's dominated for me by something resembling spent gunpowder, along with brown sugar, spices, and a bit of floral way in the background. On the palate, slightly less rich than the nose would suggest. Gains weight but still less plush than one might expect. Finish medium long...actually …

Popped/poured. Shiraz dominated nose, with hints of brown sugar and meat. Forward fruit with a eucalyptus brightness on the finish.

Nice! Good nose. Taste is only slightly sweet with blueberry, good acidity and tannin, white pepper and great fruit. Not a fruit bomb. Could be a little more interesting but no complaints.

First off let me say I do Love Aussie wines so keep that in mind when reading this review. I LOVE THIS JUICE - Color was deep garnet-purple. Nose was subtle berries and dark red fruit but not overpowering. Just a bit of heat in the background - possibly from the alcohol content. Taste was jammy at first then smoothes to a velvety dance of plums and a dash of pepper. This wine is velvet in the mouth with some …

Seems to be missing some depth of fruit vs the btl from 2 years ago. A brightness I thought was grenache until I looked at the label. A nice wine, decent QPR @ $19, but does not appear to be aging well, at least based on this bottle. Makes me wonder a bit about the screwtop....???

Purple opaque color. Fruity nose of dark fruits, some spice and earth. Palate of blackberry, cassis, spice, some tar. Balanced but overall a little over the top for my tastes. Comes off fruity and salty.

Good wine, maybe a little grade inflation last time. The noteworthy item to take away is the need for this wine to breathe. The wine opens very tight, with some open time it becomes a luscious treat. Nice firm mouthfull with a long satisfying finish.

Not a lot on the nose. Very balanced on the palate, with some light jamminess and mild, integrated tannins. The oak is there but subtle, and overall I'd call this wine smooth and rounded, without the overkill of some Aussies. That said, nothing really blew us away about it, either, thus the 89.

Very nice. Dense, almost inky, ruby color that telegraphs of the dense nose and taste to come. Initial notes of oak and tannin air out nicely and the jammy fruit come to the fore after the open time. This wine stood up exceptionally well on the second and even third day. A splendid value and given the process by which I select wines to drink, i.e. don't die without having drunk all of the mediocre wines first, the remaining bottles …

House Cleaning; 6/21/2007-6/24/2007 (Home Sweet Home) : Recent purchase at significant discount....excellent QPR. Opens up very heavy, but lightens up with a bit of air. That seems unusual, but works in this wine's favor, making it a bit easier to envision a food pairing. Smoky fruit on the nose. On the palate, medium heavy trending towards heavy. Good depth of fruit, perhaps a bit light on underlying structure that might carry it from an aging perspective. In the meantime, this …

[RL, chi] Good structure, red fruit, spice, mild oak

55% Shiraz; 45% Cabernet Sauvignon. Sweet cassis nose. Lovely balance. Very elegant with a clean purity of fruit that’s very impressive. Very Good Indeed+.