Two Hands Sophie’s Garden Shiraz 2008, Padthaway, South Australia, Australia

This wine is 100% Shiraz grape with maturation taking place in 45% new French oak hogsheads, the remainder in 2 to 4 year old French oak for a period of 16 months with alcohol coming in at 15.8%.

At four years old this attractive Shiraz is already showing intriguing maturing nose with aromas of blackberry, plum, currants, white pepper, mint, violet and sandalwood. On the mouthfeel, flavours of blackberry preserve and savoury spices, balanced acidity and fine grained tannins. This wines finish is very smooth with soft seductive fruit flavours and exotic spices lingering. Even with the considerable alcohol, Sophie’s Garden 2008 still managed to be well balanced, thanks to the massive amounts of ripe fruit. An interesting Shiraz that was very enjoyable, scored 91 points.

Purchased October 15, 2011 LCBO New Release (62380) at $46.00

Two Hands Max's Garden Shiraz 2006, Heathcote, South Australia, Australia

I have long been a big fan of Two Hands wines, especially the Garden Series. First enjoyed at a tasting at the Vancouver Wine Show about three years ago. I have two vintages of Bella's Garden and 2 bottles of Sophie's Garden 2008 in my cellar. An earlier wine review was Two Hands Harry and Edward's 2006 on this blog . You can read that review here;

http://paulnjoywine.blogspot.com/2011/04/2006-two-hands-harry-edwards-shiraz.html

Well, this is my first experience with Max's Garden and here are my thoughts. This wine opens up with blackberry, black cherry, prune, espresso, leather, shoe box, cedar, earthy and toasty aromas. On the mouthfeel, big and beefy, not much fruit here but lots of oak, light acidity and silky tannins. Medium length on this Shiraz finish, slightly tart with flavours of bitter chocolate, dark fruit, stewed fruit and baking spices. This wine was aged 14 months in new and seasoned French oak hoghseads with alcohol coming in at 14.5%. My expectation was that a Shiraz from Heathcote would be more aromatic, more elegant with less alcohol but this Max's Garden Shiraz went through way to much toasty oak, killing the poor fruit in the process. Not all Super Premium Garden Shiraz needs to compete in the Heavyweight division, some could be in the Light Heavyweight instead. I am sure you get my drift, let the different regions express themselves to there fullest instead of tasting and feeling the same. This wine felt to extracted and over manipulated, at this price not a great value. Disappointing, score 86 points.  

 

This wine was purchased on June 19, 2011 at the SAQ for $63.50

2006 Two Hands Harry & Edward’s Garden Shiraz, Langhorne Creek, South Australia

I purchased this wine after tasting it at the Vancouver International Wine Festival in March of 2009. This Shiraz is part of the Two Hands Garden Series, Premium Shiraz from 6 different growing regions of Australia. They are:

1-Bella’s Garden from Barossa Valley

2-Harry and Edward’s Garden from Langhorne Creek

3-Lily’s Garden from McLaren Vale

4-Max’s Garden from Heathcote

5- Samantha’s Garden from Claire Valley and

6-Sophie’s Garden from Padthaway

Generally I prefer cooler climate Shiraz like Claire Valley, Heathcote and Langhorne Creek; a cooler climate makes for less jammy wines with better acidity, lower alcohol and a more elegant wines.

This wine opened up with ripe dark fruits (blueberry, blackberry and plums), violet, eucalyptus and cedar. The palate is medium to full body with rich fruits flavours, pepper and savoury notes, balance acidity and grainy tannins. The finish is long and peppery. This Shiraz has loads of fruit but it’s never goes into the jammy territory as acidity and tannins hold this wine together, bringing complexity and structure to this delicious Shiraz.

This wine was purchased in BC (Vancouver Wine Show) 2009, $75.00