This week's post is brought to you by Shiraz

The wine I have chosen for the week is a Shiraz. You say "Shiraz," I say "Syrah" - it's the same grape none-the-less. In France it is known and grown as Syrah, and responsible for some of the Northern Rhone's big, bold red wines. However, in Australia and South Africa it goes by "Shiraz."
Shiraz is touted as Australia's spicy, big-hitting red wine. The Barossa and Hunter Valleys along with McLaren Vale are Australia's dominating Shiraz growing regions. As for the grape, it is a deep-purple color and produces medium to full-bodied wines.
Shiraz wines display firm tannins (although they are typically ripe and smooth, not abrasive like younger reds can be), a medium to full body, and the rich round flavors of black cherry, blackberry, plum, bell pepper, black pepper, clove, licorice, dark chocolate and smoked meat.

So, wham bam there is your history lesson. The description above I'm sure would be correct with any top shelf wine, however with this being a poor students guide with the budget of a poor student such as myself, here are my notes on this particular beverage which so happens to be a lovely bottle of Tisdale Shiraz from California at the lovely purchase price of $3.99 on sale at the liquor store. This bottles back description mentions Black Raspberry and Pomegranate which were pretty prevalent at first sip. Red wines are well-known to be full of flavor and quite the kick in the pants, this one was no exception. I feel as though this wine is definitely a sipper, it has quite the kick at first and makes you pause to contemplate its entire flavor and perhaps shudder a little.

Just like any beverage of this sort, every sip starts to go down easier. The tart pomegranate was very strong at first but after a few sips I could start to taste the black raspberry a lot more and it seemed much smoother. This would be a very hard wine to drink on its own unless you were desperate. But overall I would say this is a very tasty wine and all I could think about while sipping from my glass was how much a nice juicy steak would go along, and I was right! Not that I did in fact have a steak, which would have been nice, but that Shiraz is great with grilled meats or veggies, wild game, beef stew, and richly flavored red meats. Sweet! So grab a bottle of 4 dollar Shiraz, a large meat lover's pizza (or some steak) and a friend for a fancy dinner. Enjoy!