I love the packaging of the First Drop wines. The labels seem to resonate with the wines.
And while I’m all for elegance, sometimes it’s great to have full-flavoured Aussie wines from regions like the Barossa and McLaren Vale, when the bigness is allied to freshness and definition, and appropriate oak use. Big can, of course, be bad, but here we have big that is good.
First Drop Mother’s Milk Shiraz 2010 Barossa, Australia
14.5% alcohol. Deep coloured. Aromatic, sweet blackberry and black cherry nose with nice definition and a bit of spiciness. Rounded and smooth. The palate is fresh, vivid, ripe and a bit meaty with lovely purity of sweet blackberry fruit supported by good acidity and some tannic grip. Lovely freshness here alongside the vivid, intense dark fruits. 92/100
First Drop Mother’s Ruin Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 McLaren Vale, Australia
14% alcohol. Lovely sweet but balanced blackcurrant and blackberry fruit supported by some savoury gravelly notes. Ripe and more-ish, but balanced with savoury, spicy notes and some tannic grip. A lovely, balanced wine. 91/100
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2 Comments on Two lovely, full-on wines from First Drop
Love that second label that makes such witty use of a classic Hogarth print. Very nice. There is a useful exposition of the two prints describing the contrast between the wholesome, petit-bourgeois prosperity of the ale house in “Beer Street” on the British Museum website. I always enjoy a little virtual exploring at the BM: viz. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/w/william_hogarth,_beer_street.aspx
A local restaurant brings in the Shiraz on allocation so might be hard for me to track down.