Archer Heathcote Shiraz 2006

arch-err [ahr-cher]
· someone who uses a bow and arrow.
· the horse who won the first two Melbourne Cups.
· the Shiraz from Heathcote.

If you got two out of three you are doing well. If you got all three, well maybe you should be blogging about wine also.

Archer is a sort of side project by one of Australia’s foremost wine critics, Nick Stock. It is a conglomeration of his families wine venture ‘Twofold’ and has been produced under the ‘Archer’ moniker since 2005.

Now Heathcote Shiraz’s to me have been somewhat of an oddity or a misnomer. You see Heathcote Shiraz has got a really good terroir signature of black pepper, eucalypt, mocha and really fine savoury notes. The thing is however, is that Heathcote Shiraz, has for too long been made in the fashion of big fruit and big alcohol which ultimately spells big hangover. All this adds up to JABS! Heathcote is better than that, and I reckon the Archer can be better than that too.

The vintage we tasted is the 2006 Shiraz. On the back of quite a few years of drought, 2006 was no different with high temperatures spanning from early December to March and patchy rain. High winds in December did not help fruit set with quite a few growers commenting on this.

The colour is a ruby colour with the faintest sign of translucency about it. On the nose come spicy plum and dark chocolate with a sting in the nose that belies the 13.5% alcohol on this bad-boy. In the mouth is a full on explosion of more spicy plum with black pepper following in the mid palate. As I stated previous, this wine borders on Barossa.

The balance is sought of there, the length is not. It has semi complexity but this is overshadowed by the massive weight of ripe fruit. A Jack Dyer wine in the end – a good average wine.

Drink with BBQ spare ribs
Drink till 2012
15/20