2007 Charles Shaw Shiraz

From toothpastefordinner.com

Alrighty yesterday I didn't post anything because I had a horrible day at work that had me in a foul mood and instead of cooking a good meal and cracking up another bottle of wine I threw a frozen pizza in, drank diet coke, and watched a re-run of House. So! Onto another voyage of wine!

This is a 2007 Charles Shaw Shiraz that was given to us by the same people that gave us the Hogue Reisling. Honestly, I was slightly apprehensive because I've never heard of Charles Shaw wine before and for some reason all I could think of was Charlie Brown and a bank.

The color is a great purple that I think of as the color on a paint chip called "wine". A nice deep purple with rosy undertones but still super dark and lovely. My dream home, which would be something similar to the Kahlo/Rivera or more accurately Burton/Bonham-Carter house, would have a huge den-cave with this color on the walls. I know I'm going on about the color, but it really is quite lovely.

The nose is also very nice. I've started to notice that I need to have deep breaths in the glass for at least 30 seconds before I start picking up indvidual scents. The first whiff I notice familiar scents but I don't know what they are. About 6 huffs in on this one I started smelling the fruit, very blackberry. The second scent I got was a nice black pepper. I just spent the last minute with my nose in the glass and I smell more fruit but I can't figure what else besides blackberries.

Finally the flavor. This is where things get a little disappointing. As soon as it hits my tongue it is super sour from the tip of my tongue and rushes down the sides to the back. And not sour like tart per say, but sour like soured wash rags. Well, it is tart too but I think sour is more accurate. The mid-section is a rush of nothing. I've noticed quite a few wines lately that don't have a good middle so I'm thinking that maybe my palate is still evolving. The finish is more similar to the begining with that odd sourness but the fruit comes out again. Its like shoving a handfull of blackberries in your mouth that are still green and weeks away from ripe. It is still blackberry, but lacking. The aftertaste is amazing. Very fruity and lovely light and zingy but there isn't any spice or kick which I find odd since I got pepper on the nose.

I almost wonder what this wine would be like after it ages a bit more, its still a baby. I had a conversation with a co-worker today who is big into wine and we were talking about how 2005 had some amazing wines but the 2006 and 2007 kinds are very blah. I will have to read more reviews on some of these younger wines and see if that is a general concensus. I'll give this wine 3 stars for the color, nose, and finish.