Australian wine bottles are often plastered with medal stickers. This Mt. Monster 2019 Shiraz from the Limestone Coast has three gold medal stickers. Irrelevant I say as pay your entry fee and walk away with some sort of medal. And often you must pay the wine competition organizer to affix/buy the stickers. A similar analogy can be made to many films that proudly trumpet they are part of an “official selection” for a film festival.
Does this Mt. Monster Shiraz glitter with its three gold medals? Anyone hear of Fool’s Gold?
Aroma: Plum, blackberry, blueberry and some black cherry. Perhaps I should simply refer to this as a wine “full of black fruit”.
Palate: No Frankenstein tannins looming in the shadows. A bit of a burn on the palate and unlike some Shiraz that has tinges of pepper at 14.5% this Johnny Storm has 14.5% alcohol. There is some creaminess in all the heat. Lots of blueberry pie. Short hot finish. Lack of complex fruit.
Personality: Perhaps the Incredible Hulk with lots of muscle but not a lot of brain. Certainly more of a Lex Luthor than a Clark Kent.
Food Match: Like swirling intestines in “Night of the Living Dead” substitute a spicy lamb sausage for intestines. I said sausages not Frank-n-Furter like in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”.
Cellarbility: Count Dracula sleeps well for years in a coffin but this wine will not.
Price: $21.95 (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 85/100. The gold is not glittering.
(Mt. Monster, Limestone Coast 2019 Shiraz, Morambro Creek, Padthaway, Australia, 750 mL, 14.5%)
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