The following wine caught my attention for a few reasons. And none of them were taste (I haven’t had the opportunity to try it), or the insane price for which it is being sold.

The 2006 Winner’s Tank Shiraz Langhorne Creek is being sold here for $11.97. There were two other online outlets selling it for $11.99, while others were selling it for $13, $14 & as much as $17 a bottle.

But the reason I felt compelled to write about this deal is that it is an UNDER $15 bottle of wine. Having just written about the increase in prices of Australian wines I thought it would only be fair to include a wine that should fall into most people’s wine buying budget. Not that it should matter, but it did receive a 91 from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, and apparently has been a consistent “best buy”.

The other thing about this wine that stood out to me was in its description the producer proudly proclaims something we do not see a lot of. They specify their oak treatment method – something common when using barrels, especially new french oak barrels.  But here no barrels were used.  Given that this wine was produced in Australia & that the price is as low as it is, many might have guessed that it did not see the inside of a barrel. Rather it must have been aged with some other form of oak. But here the producer (seemingly proudly) states that this wine “spent 9 months in tank with French oak staves“. While Oak staves are more expensive and said to be better than oak chips or oak powder (yes, some producers use a powder to provide the oaky aroma & flavor profiles) I still commend this full disclosure and definitely want to give this well priced wine a try. I suggest you do the same. And while you are at it why don’t you tell me what you thought about the wine.

Off to a big kosher wine & food event tonight. I hope and expect to blog about it no later than tomorrow. I’m sure I will have a lot to say…

Until then, happy quaffing!

WTG