11/15/2022 - ChateauShiny Does not like this wine:

Was craving an Aussie Shiraz, grabbed this from my local BevMo since I have not had a Mollydooker in a long time.

TN from a PnP. Deep inky ruby black. Bold nose that punches you in the face. Blackberries, plums, coffee, vanilla, a bit of cream (!!), and unrestrained American oak spices. As the wine gets more air - the nose seems to settle down.

Full bodied, a lot of sweetness from the 16% alcohol, but the punch fails to make contact due to the lack of acidity. Palate of jammy blackberries, vanilla, plums, coffee, spices (dill, tarragon, thyme), black pepper, and black olives. Smooth tannins with just enough structure to save the flabby palate.

Long finish that reminds me of Jagermeister mixed with Folgers crystals, vanilla creamer, and pencil lead. There is a lingering dark milk chocolate, black currant, and herbal liquor taste that never lets go.

Part of me feels like I need a cigar to enjoy this wine. I know there is a huge segment of the population that will like this, but this is not my style. Should have grabbed the Penfolds Bin 28 instead.

2/27/2022 - FDWines Likes this wine:

Enjoyed this blend with pizza. Went well with both the various cheeses and sauces. A nice soft wine.

9/22/2020 - Ben Christiansen wrote:

The Nebbiolo actually. And it doesn't smell like Nebbiolo at all. Doesn't smell like Nebbiolo at all.

3/21/2017 - WineGuyFL Likes this wine:

Very high up there on the PQR scale. My bias.....I like different......and this one is different. I am sure I have never had a bottle of wine with this make up. I believe it is 65% Malbec, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petite Verdot. The Cabernet adds depth and complexity to the Malbec while the Petite Verdot adds a lot of spice (one of its usual tasks). My wife asked me at dinner what in the world I was drinking because it is so dark.....presumably because of the Petite Verdot. She was correct, as I am not sure I have ever seen a wine so deep and dark. It is drinking very well right now. My instincts are it could improve, as that is the nature of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, but there is no reason to look at it in the Wine Room right now. It is fully up to the WA rating of 93.

4/30/2014 - Ramberg wrote:

It shall be noted that I’m perhaps not big a Zin fan (rather far from), but really…?
This is not a top producers, but still very much the same, and I would not be able to tell the differences, had it been.
The nose is hot, full with alcohol, oak, oak shavings, burnt and toasted oak and burnt and toasted grapes with some burnt rubber and burnt coffe on top.
Able to find some hints of blueberry jam, blackberries, vanilla and raisins in this mess of a burnt out camp fire.
Actually rather interesting nose, I felt like one of those after the fire investigators you see on TV sometimes, investigating arsons.
On the palate its hot and a jammy mess of blackberries, blueberries and plums, with some spicy raisins and vanilla on top.
Had it with a grilled steak, but it destroyed the steak, so had to open another bottle.
Imo., avoid, unless you are in to big, jammy, unsophisticated, messy, alcohol filled and overdone wines.
In that case, this would be great and you would probably love it.

12/23/2013 - chablis28 wrote:

Was this a matter of low expectations and trepidation, or was I actually wowed by this wine? I'm going with wowed! A promising dark fruit, cedary, creosote nose upon opening led to the first surprise....it wasn't at all jammy or heavy. Instead, rather sleek, defined and weightless! No heavy handed blackberry flavors like so much new world malbec. Layers of dark chocolate, expresso, raspberries and a wisp of minerality. Blind, I might guess this as Pessac. This had uncommon range of flavor and intensity for ...malbec. Still, its malbec, and I don't like malbec, right? So, I'll only give it 92pts even though it probably deserves a higher score. At $23 I'll buy another and see if I hate the next one and this was only an aberration. Paired with a hearty dish of goulash.PnP

9/27/2013 - Merrilee@ymail.com wrote:

Excellent cab

5/17/2013 - Keith Levenberg Does not like this wine:

This is of course really, really terrible, but the main thing that continues to mystify me is how people call this kind of thing a crowd-pleaser. I poured it for a crowd and almost nobody liked it. It smells like blueberry Smuckers jam and tastes so sweet and grapey one wonders if they even bothered to ferment it; this resembles the Kedem grape juice that my 3-year-old drinks more than wine, albeit with an admittedly higher Fruit Weight™ index and the completely gratuitous addition of an obscene amount of oak that tastes of such raw, pure wood (not even toast or chocolate or spice or any of those things) that it almost seems like they figured out some way to crush and ferment a truckload of tongue depressors, which I guess is ironic considering the totally unfermented flavor of the grapes. There was actual jawdropping around the room when I pointed to the explanation on the Mollydooker web site that the producers consider this a 65-70% on their Fruit Weight™ scale and that they make other wines that go all the way up to 100, considering that we are already well into Spinal Tap territory here. On the "other" point scale I am scoring this a 55 rather than a flat 50 only because the 16% alcohol actually didn't stick out so bad, but this really does taste like a wine made by somebody who has never actually drank wine. I get that the idea here is to take all the characteristics that impress the critics so much and use those trademarked techniques and the Aussie sun to crank them up to 11 (and beyond), but if this is an attempt to emulate any style of actual wine it's akin to having Stevie Wonder try to copy a painting.

11/27/2011 - mouton45 wrote:

Not bad for a $3.99 wine

7/4/2010 - TannicBeast wrote:

Red to garnet on the rim. A pronounced nose of black cherries, alcohol and vanilla. Black fruit, chocolate mocha and alcohol on the palate. Dry, but so fruit-forward and high in alcohol that it appears to have some residual sweetness. Medium low acidity and medium tannins result in a somewhat flabby but nevertheless enjoyable finish. Very smooth and rounded, with a very long finish. It might improve for another year or so as the alcohol becomes better integrated, but it does not seem to have the structure for any kind of aging.

5/7/2010 - Corgoson wrote:

Strong burn oak nose with some preserved black fruits and fig too. Taste: Dry and spicy with lots of sawdust. Medium body with some chicken spice, like eating grilled whole chicken. Some perfume and black fruits like plum and black berry. The finish is dry and bitter like chewing on rubber. A bit hot too. Quite simple like thin water and chewing at medicine pill at the same time. Might open up eventually.