Two Hands 2018 Angels’ Share Shiraz, McLaren Vale

Perhaps the world is in need of divine intervention right now. We got some help from angels when we opened this bottle.

The Angels’ Share

Angels' Share refers to the small amount of wine that evaporates from oak barrels while it matures. Medieval winemakers assumed that angels watched over the wines, and that they took their share.

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We took our share recently when we opened Two Hands 2018 Angels’ Share Shiraz from McLaren Vale. McLaren Vale is a standout Australian wine region with a Mediterranean climate. It is known for consistently great reds, especially velvety smooth Shiraz.

Two Hands is one of our favorite Australian wineries. Their focus is to make the best possible Shiraz-based wines from prized growing regions throughout Australia. Determined to be different than the formulaic style of Shiraz sold internationally, Two Hands turns the focus on spotlighting the regional and vineyard characteristics. In short, they are focused on the fruit.

The Brickle Debate

The Angels’ Share is deep purple in the glass. Plunging in coats your tongue with rich and luxurious blue and black fruit flavors. The texture is silky with flavors of brickle, roasted cherries and raspberry on the finish.

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As we sipped we got into a discussion about brickle. Is it even a thing? I recalled a once-popular ice cream flavor called Butter Brickle. My wife is a toffee fanatic and felt that the flavor in the wine was even better than her beloved Heath bars. We were trying to identify the toffee flavor in the wine and brickle, perhaps a bit more silky and buttery, fit the sumptuous flavor of the wine best.

The ABV for this wine is 14.2%, but it is lithe and balanced – never ponderous and plodding. The tannins are very laid back. It really explodes with flavor and continues with layers of satisfaction. This is a bottle that lingers on the tongue with a delightfully long finish.

This is Australian Shiraz at its best, never overplaying its hand to become flabby and uninteresting. We suggest you uncork a bottle or two during your social isolation. Oh yes, to get your Aussie on, we suggest that you pronounce it sheer-azz and not the Americanized sheer-ahs. The SRP is a tasty $33.

Full disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.

Two Hands Garden Series Elevates Aussie Shiraz To Lofty Heights

Whether you call it Shiraz or Syrah, we dig this grape. Two Hands Wine is delivering eye-opening Shiraz expressive of Australia’s best regions.

Contenders For Top Wines Of The Year List

Each year I compile a list of our top wines of the year. It’s a lot of fun reviewing tasting notes, posts and photos.

As I was preparing to do this year’s edition, it dawned on me that I hadn’t reported on two of the best bottles of 2016 – Two Hands Wine 2014 vintages of Bella’s Garden and Lily’s Garden Shiraz. I’m correcting that wrong right now.

We tasted these two as part of Wine Studio, an online wine education program. We previously wrote about Two Hands Wine and their unique philosophy of winemaking. We love their focus on crafting wines that express the essence of the best Australian wine regions.

Fresh From The Garden

Our latest tasting focused on Two Hands Garden Series wines, specifically the Bella’s Garden and Lily’s Garden. They are from Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale respectively, two of the world’s premier wine regions. Simply put, these are outrageously good wines. One sip will win the heart of any wine lover.

We sampled both bottles with some home-made beef stroganoff. This is not a classic pairing, but it worked well with the duo of wines. That’s probably because they are so good they would elevate the most pedestrian fare.

Amplifying our enjoyment was the contrast between the two wines. Each wine represents well the hallmarks of their particular wine region. Bella’s Garden has the boldness of Barossa, while Lilly’s Garden has the elegance of McLaren Vale.

Both Shiraz have deep flavors and lush finishes. They are 14.2% alcohol, but have no “hot,” alcoholic feel. About 90% of any wine is water and some wines taste like that – but not the two Two Hands (not to be confused with tu-tu) Shiraz at our table. The robust, radiant flavors are expansive.

Barossa and McLaren – A Winning Duo

From Barossa, Bella has a focus on dark fruit flavors with blackberry and spice flavor notes. The wine is aged in French oak for 18 months, but just 17% new oak – so the wine is far from tannic. Unlike a two-year old Napa Cabernet, which should age for several more years to let the tannins integrate, Bella’s Garden is ready to be harvested right now. It can still cellar for 10 to 15 years, but we would suggest getting multiple bottles and enjoying one now.

With origins in McLaren Vale, Lily’s Garden has a focus on rich red fruit. There are blueberry flavors to delight you along with notes of vanilla and mocha. Like Bella, Lily has a supple texture that coats the palate and a finish that lingers like a warm summer day. That’s very appealing right now as the daylong snow continues outside my window.

These wines retail for about $46 each. I hesitate to mention this, because you can’t really put a price on happiness. These are wines to savor and are sure to bring a warm smile from the Land Down Under.

Best Fruit, Best Regions Key Two Hands Aussie Shiraz Success

In Australia the Syrah grape is known as Shiraz. The warmer temperature and ideal growing conditions allow full ripening and a bold, blockbuster style.

Australia Rocks Shiraz

We are enormous fans of Syrah. Whether it is from the Rhone region or Washington State, it is a grape that delights us with often earthy and brambly flavors. In many New World countries, especially Australia, the grape is called Shiraz. It’s unclear where the name came from. Perhaps it was believed that the grape originated in the Persian city of Shiraz and somehow migrated to France.

Shiraz is an iconic Australian wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon is to Napa Valley. The Shiraz in Australia is bursting with berry rich flavor, whereas Syrah in other countries can be bottled with heavy tannins. If you, like me in days past, had a mental image of Australian Shiraz as being a sweeter red wine – it’s time to make that thought go “poof.” We explored a pair of Shiraz from Down Under during a recent Wine Studio online learning program.

Two Hands Winery Aims To Highlight Terroir Differences

Two Hands Winery was founded in 1999 by Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz. Today, Two Hands is owned by Michael, together with Colorado native Tim Hower. The goal then and now is to make the best possible Shiraz-based wines from prized growing regions throughout Australia. Determined to be different than the formulaic style of Shiraz sold internationally, Two Hands turned the focus on spotlighting the regional and vineyard characteristics. In short, they are focused on the fruit.

Two Hands has several wine ranges. The Flagship is their top tier, with a strict classification process that only allows the use of the best barrels of wine in production. The Garden Series is a super premium range from six of the finest Shiraz growing regions in Australia. In addition to the Single Vineyard series, the Picture Series is the point of entry with unique and regionally distinctive wines.
We explored two bottles from the Picture Series paired with handcrafted pizzas.

Angels and Dudes!

A hallmark of the Picture Series is the irreverent attitude. The two wines we sampled were Angel’s Share and Gnarly Dudes. The Cabernet is dubbed Sexy Beast.

Angel’s Share refers to the small amount of wine that evaporates from oak barrels during aging. Medieval winemakers assumed that angels were watching the process and they took their share. Luckily they left enough for us to enjoy with our pepperoni, green pepper and Colby cheese pizza.

Angel’s Share is from the famed McLaren Vale appellation. In the glass, the wine is dark red with a purple edge. This is a vibrant wine that bursts upon the palate. On the tongue there are deep cherry flavor notes. There is also an herbal aspect to the wine punctuated with notes of spice.

The wine is aged for 12 months in a combination French and American oak. The ABV is 14.5%, but this is a beautifully balanced wine with no feeling of extra “heat.” It retails for about $42.

Green Dragon cooked up two other gourmet pizzas, a thin crust barbeque chicken and spinach pizza and a basil, tomato, feta Mediterranean pizza. Clearly we needed more Shiraz!

Gnarly Dudes was inspired by the Cohen Brothers movie The Big Lebowski and is also named for the gnarly old Shiraz vines used. The grapes are from Barossa Valley, Australia’s most famous wine region. In the glass, as you can see in the above photo, the Dude is a much darker purple. While the Angel’s Share was all about red fruit and herbs, the Gnarly Dudes is rich and plush with deep blackberry flavors. This is a refined and integrated wine.

The aging is done for 12 months with 15% in new French oak and the remainder in one to six-year-old French oak barrels. The alcohol is 13.5%. Not only did the Dude stand up to a spicy pizza, it had great length –with a finish that lingered mightily. This wine retails for about $32.

From the first sip, the care that went into the growing of the fruit and the winemaking are evident. Both Shiraz are solid enjoyment from the word “go.” They are available in the US and can be found online. 
Full disclosure: These wines were received as a marketing sample.

2011 Paxton AAA, McLaren Vale

This bottle had a couple of things going for it. First, it features Australian Shiraz and second, it is from McLaren Vale, one of the top Aussie wine regions. That was enough for me to pop on a duo of this wine from an online retailer. I got the pair for $45.
McLaren Vale is in south Australia about 20 miles south of Adelaide and on the coast. Grapes have been grown there since the early 19th century. Since then McLaren Vale has established itself as a premier wine region with more than 50 wineries and 13,000 acres of vineyards. It is also known for full-bodied Shiraz.
Shiraz is the same grape as Syrah, but there is a difference stylistically. Shiraz can often be finished with a touch of sweetness whereas Syrah often has an earthy character.
The Paxton is easy to like. It is a blend of 62% Shiraz and 38% Grenache. On the palate it offers ripe, red fruit. It is juicy and round but with solid tannins for structure. I detected more oak than expected.
This would make a nice match with grilled meats or lamb dishes. Should also be served up with good friends and great conversation.
Rating: 3 of 5  Value: 2.5 of 5

Technorati Tags: wine,McLaren Vale,Shiraz

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Yangarra Estate 2006 Cadenzia, McLaren Vale

The musically named Cadenzia is a red blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. Although this classic combination is a hallmark of the Rhone region of France, the Yangarra GSM comes from the McLaren Vale area of South Australia.
I picked up this bottle at Anderson’s annual closeout. This year I decided that I would look for wines that were originally priced in the $20 to $30 price range and were significantly marked down. This bottle was purchased for $13 and was a very good value.
We popped it open with Sax Man and Wine Chick during an evening when the moon was full and at the closest point to the earth of the year. As the orangey moon emerged above the tree line and danced in
and out of the clouds, Sax Man scrambled to set up his telescope. I dashed inside to get my binoculars (and also open this wine).
The image of the moon was a little blurry, but the Yangarra was really focused. It opened with a blast of herbaciousness and melted into a tasty blend of cherry and fig flavor notes. It is a juicy wine with medium body and a deep red color.
It was a great wine to savor on this moonlit evening – not too aggressive and with smoothness to show what makes Australian wines so appealing.

Technorati Tags: wine,Australian wine

Rating: 3.5 of 5   Value: 4 of 5

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90+ Cellars 2006 Lot 14 Zinfandel, McLaren Vale

This baby is one reason why Zinfandel is zooming up our list of wine favorites. We uncorked this while exchanging holiday greetings with our neighbors.

It is a full bodied red with medium tannins that has an opulent aroma.The palate is rich with dark berries and dark chocolate with a quenching nib of sweetness on the persistent finish.

Thirty-year-old vines provide the grapes for this estate-grown wine. The vineyard is located in the northern foothills of Australia’s McLaren Vale, an area known for producing elegant, powerful and complex wines.

When thinking of Australia, Shiraz immediately comes to mind. In fact, more than half of McLaren Vale’s grape production is Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Grenache are also widely grown. Although not as commonly planted there, this wine shows the great promise of McLaren Zin.

90+ Cellars has yet to disappoint me with their wine. This wine is recommended, especially as the cost was a measly $10 via an online special a year ago. Rating 4 out of 5.

Technorati Tags: wine,Zinfandel,McLaren Vale

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