During the mega-tasting I participated in a couple of weeks before Pesach, there were two bottles that seemed to be off. The first was the Herzberg Rosé which I had tasted at the winery and really enjoyed very much. The second was the Shiran Rosé which I had heard good things about but had not yet tasted. This past Thursday, I got home from work early to pack for a quick trip to the US primarily to visit my 94 year old grandmother – I have been trying to schedule these trips more frequently as she gets older. (The only real downside to Aliyah other than lack of access to non Israeli wine is lack of access to family). Whenever I fly I try to bring in goodies for some friends and someone asked for a bottle of The Shiran Rosé and I zipped on over as I had finished packing a little early. While I was there purchasing, Eli Shiran the winemaker was kind enough to open another bottle for me to sample.
As a rule, I only write about wine that I have purchased. I do not want to be beholden to the winery or winemaker. If I taste a wine that I don’t like I want the freedom to write that – and if someone is sending you samples or otherwise doing you a favor, you don’t always feel that you have that freedom. In this case, as I was buying the wine, I felt like I could write what I want in case I didn’t like it – and I made sure that I told Eli that going in (disclaimer – I have shared many bottles and meals with Eli as he is a frequent guest at RCC Israel). In any event, there really was nothing to worry about. While not my absolute favorite this season, it is definitely one of the good ones, if not slightly overpriced.
The wine is made up of a mix of about 2/3 Perite Sirah and 1/3 Petit Verdot and comes in at 11.6% ABV. On the nose lovely fruit – primarily raspberry and strawberry. In the mouth, this one of the weightier Rosés with a really pleasant mouthfeel. Bone dry, raspberry on the first wave and some stone fruit on the second all wrapped up with some excellent acidity. For me, that second wave of flavor really didn’t work one hundred percent, but that’s a small thing overall. Besides that, the only real negative here is price. The Rosé is good – but at 80-90 shekels a bottle, I needed it to be great. For me, it falls short of that.
Bottom Line:
- Price: NIS 80-90
- For Aging: No
- Would I Buy Again: Probably not
- QPR Rating: Below Average
- Taste/Depth/Quality: Good
- Overall Rating (1-5): 2.5