Koltz DogDay Shiraz 2015

Some people equate the saying "Dog Day" to mean a hot and sultry summer's day. However that's only because it's historically coincidental with summer in the northern hemisphere having the constellation of Canis Major aka Orion's Dog with it's main star Sirius, aka the Dog Star, barely above the horizon at sunrise, thus heralding the Dog Day to come.

The label thus says on Dog Days to expect the unexpected. Dog star or not, I expect that during the summer days of 2015 the signs were this was going to be the Siriusly good wine that it is.

The grapes are mainly from Blewitt Springs, with the remainder from a sand block in McLaren Flat. Open fermented for a coupla weeks and then near a year in mostly old oak, with 10% new oak for some complexity.

A crimson to purple edge, otherwise completely opaque. A nose initially of black cherries, dark chocolate, nutmeg and a hint of sandalwood. There is real power in this wine, even with a sensible 14.5% alc/v, it has simply oodles of fruit flavour that lingers for a long time. A solid backbone of satisfying rustic tannins, the antithesis of so many factory made wines these days. Very slurpable and satisfying indeed.

I tried this bottle over 3 days, and yes that took both willpower and substitution to accomplish. By day 3 the tannins were softening nicely, suggesting perhaps a year to three more cellaring would be of benefit. The power of the wine did not fade either, but the aromas evolved, and by day three I was getting a nice Moroccan tagine overtone.

Rated Highly Recommend++ and ***** value at $22 RRP