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17 August 2025
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This article is excerpted from FOOD TV. com and the opinions here do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of BHW&S.
We've included this article strictly for your enjoyment and
reading pleasure. |
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www.beaconhillwine.com
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Believe it or not, the world of
wine-and-food matching contains one giant
gap, one category of wine that practically
doesn't exist, a category that would make
wine-and-food matching in America a whole
lot easier than it is.
The missing link? Red wine with a little
sweetness.
Why would you want that? Veteran
food-matchers know that if food is a little
sweet, the accompanying wine should be a
little sweet. Serve, for example, Grilled
Swordfish with Mango Salsa alongside a tart,
little Muscadet, and watch the wine turn to
absolute lemon juice before your very
palate. But serve it with a rich and
sweet California Chardonnay, and the wine
will seem less sweet, perfectly balanced,
much more complex. In addition to California
Chardonnay, the world has a wide range of
Rieslings, Chenin Blancs, Gewurztraminers,
and more, that regularly come to the market
off-dry.
The problem is there are precious few
equivalents in the world of red wine. It's a
dry ocean out there in Rouge-World, with
nary an island of sweetness.
This is no problem, of course, when you're
simply grilling a steak. But when that steak
has steak sauce, or when that burger has
ketchup, or when those ribs have barbecue
sauce--you want someting red, and you need
something slightly sweet! Who you gonna
call?
Our friends the Australians, that's who! Oh,
they make plenty of dry red wine down under,
as everyone else does. However, if you seek
out young, inexpensive wines made from the
Shiraz grape, chances are they'll have a
fruity, bouncy sweetness that goes
magnificently with sweet-ish red-wine foods.
2000 BRL Hardy, Barossa Valley Estate
Shiraz Medium-dark purple-garnet.
Absolutely glorious nose of raspberry and
sandalwood. Super-sweet up front. Then,
middle palate is leaner, quite juicy like a
crisp apple, with tobacco and chocolate
hints. Delicious.
2001 Rosemount Estate Shiraz
Young, glass-staining, boisterous purple.
Pure fruit nose, plummy and slightly jammy.
Sweet and spicy, almost like mulled wine at
Christmas. Hints of raisins and visions of
sugar plums. Year in, year out, this is one
of the most consistent, and most widely
available Australian Shirazes in the style
I'm trumpeting.
2001 Lindemans, Bin 50 Shiraz A
brilliantly bright medium-purple. Very pure,
grapy nose. No frills. Very, very
sweet--balanced with very good acid. Nice
fleshiness for the price. What's lacking is
flavor beyond the most basic.
2001 Yalumba, Oxford Landing Shiraz Made from various South
Australia vineyards. Fairly dark, bright
purple, with a nose of simple crushed
berries. Starts out hugely sweet on
palate--then, great, refreshing acidity
kicks in. Suddenly, it's light, graceful,
juicy, with a delicious streak of clove that
creates a long finish. Textbook example of
"the style," at a great price.
2001 Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Shiraz Made from various South
Australia vineyards. Dark, sappy purple.
Beautiful nose of just-crushed grapes.
Sweet, mouth-filling, simple, remarkably
rich in texture. |
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Beacon Hill Wine and Spirits, specializing in hard to find wines, champagnes and spirits
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