Two Hands Ares Shiraz

The Ares is the 'best of best grapes' Shiraz of this Shiraz specialist. The 2002 Two Hands Ares Shiraz demonstrates why this is a problematic approach. 'Best of best' means automatically the ripest and most concentrated grapes. As a result, this is a very dark wine, tasting of plum and blackberry, and overwhelmingly thickness and sweetness. It is one of those wines where you cannot drink more than one glass. Having said this, the wine is not poorly made. It is still relatively lively at 10 years, the berries do not taste burnt, but there is no differentiation in the wine, rather a big, black mouthfull. The wine is rated at 14.5% alcohol, which is not uncommon for Barossa Shiraz, but it feels more like 15.5%. The wine is not hot, though, because of the impressive fruit concentration.

At the end of the day, this is a misguided effort. The wine is expensive because it is rare. It is rare, because it only uses the ripest and most concentrated grapes. These grapes make the wine hard to swallow. And who would want to survive an evening on one glass of wine?

Score: 91/--