The Plantagenet Lion’s Circle 2018 from Western Australia might roar, meow or perhaps even purr. Western Australian wines can be lighter than a Barossa or McLaren Vale Shiraz. Let’s see!
As for aromatics there is an earthy characteristic that on a blind tasting I might mistake this for a South African Shiraz. Notes of black cherry and blackberry. On the palate just above the radar tannins. It is no weak kneed 99-pound weakling as it has palate presence but does it have character? The influence of blackberry, blueberry and black cherry is knobbly kneed. This Shiraz has run out of gas and fails to impress. I hear a meow! I am beginning to conclude that Australian wines are overpriced and better value is to be had with the wines of Portugal, Spain and Southern France and for Syrah in Canada I’d go with Stag’s Hollow in the Okanagan, British Columbia!
(Plantagenet Lions’ Circle Shiraz 2018, Great Southern, Western Australia, Plantagenet Wines, Barker, Western Australia. $18.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 15977, 14%, 750 mL, RKS Wine Rating 85/100).