2005 Slipstream Fastback Reserve Shiraz

Over at the Seattle Wine Blog is a post about Australian wineries spending money on advertising to entice consumers who regularly buy sub-$10 wine to buy $10-$20 wine. My personal thoughts on the topic are this: most of the cheap end of Aussie wines is still better than the cheap end of any other wine growing region. I'd rather drink a glass of cheap Aussie Shiraz than cheap California Merlot any day. However, I'm not really in need of convincing that I should be spending $20 on Australian wines.

Case in point: last night I opened a bottle of the 2005 Slipstream Fastback Reserve Shiraz which was a 93pt wine that I paid $24/bottle. It was worth every penny. I probably would have paid $30 for it, which is what most retail outlets charged for it, but it's a close call because I can always buy a bottle of Bin 128 for under $20. However, this was a nice change of pace. It was the dark, inky purple so characteristic of Shiraz but it had a definite hint of blueberry on the front end with a nice long, smooth finish. Drink it now and for a few years hence.

I had this by itself--no food. It's a good drinking for the sake of it wine.