The Black Pig Clare Valley Shiraz 2016

Wine:  The Black Pig Prize Shiraz
Winemaker: Fuse
Vintage: 2016
Variety: Shiraz
Price: £19.99
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A big bulky Shiraz, with a powerful bouquet and wonderfully extracted flavours of inky dark fruits, vanilla, liquorice and leather. 

Incredibly intense, with grippy, almost wild tannins, a bit of a mouthful for sure and a lengthy decant is most definitely required. A good food pairing also works well, with steak and ale pie working wonderfully for me personally.

All in all, a good wine, in fact a very good wine, but currently a bit boisterous and needs some care and attention. For sure will be much more approachable in three to five years.

Weingut Kochan Riesling Eiswein 2012

Wine: Riesling Eiswein 2012
Winemaker: Weingut Kochan
Vintage: 2012
Variety: 100% Riesling
Price: £25.99 **

Quite the dessert wine. Intense, elegant, perfectly balanced and packing a memorable punch! Ideal with vanilla and white chocolate cheesecake or a host of soft rich cheeses.

A sweet and powerful bouquet of baked apples, pears, white stone fruit, almonds and a beautiful honeyed aroma. The palate is intensely sweet, but not sickly or overwhelming: tinned peaches and poached pears dominate, with a nice lemony kick rounding things off. The acidity is pronounced and it needs to be to keep the flavours in check and pacify the sweetness. 

Full bodied, weighty, rich and unctuous, golden yellow in colour, intense and with a lengthy finish. All round a fantastic wine, perfectly balanced, possessing great finesse and character. One to savour.

Buy now from Virgin Wines

** (37.5c bottle)