Too Big?

After the rain cleared out yesterday afternoon it was a nice evening, so we fired up the grill and cooked rib-eye steaks. There were some local sweet potatoes courtesy of a farmers' market so the menu called for a big wine.

The wine was a 2002 Reilly's Clare Valley Stolen Block Shiraz from Australia. It had been sitting in the cellar for four or five years.  Lots of wonderful, ripe fruit in the nose, mostly blackberries and black plums.  The wine wasn't shy about filling the mouth with flavor.  Unctuous flavors of dark fruits and fruit jams with bits of cinnamon, leather and vanilla adding to the mix coated the tongue and the side of mouth, and they clung there for some time.  There was still some tannin showing and almost enough acid to carry everything.    In the end the wine was just a little bit too big, even after sprinkling the rib-eye with some blue cheese bits.  This was a sipping wine and not a drinking wine, and after one glass I was satisfied. 

15.5% alcohol and $24