Shingleback D Block Reserve

20-Mar-2005

The company K works for has a sister company called Precept Brands. Precept has only been around a few years but the principals have been part of Washington’s wine heritage for many years. Precept both produces and imports wines.

My favorite wines from their offerings are the Australian Shiraz. They import, Red Knot, which is a nice, value-priced, good everyday sort of wine. It’s a steady wine and the kind that’s nice to have around as a "house wine".

They also import Gatekeeper, which will knock your socks off! (Although it looks like it is now being called The Gate.) This is really an amazing Shiraz. Deep, complex and smooth with loads of berry and cherry.

But for my money my favorite is Shingleback. This wine is full bodied, dark, lots of berry and some chocolate and it just feels good in the mouth! Shingleback is about 1/2 the price of Gatekeeper and I cannot say that Gatekeeper is twice as good, even if it is a great wine. So I’ve tended to purchase quite a lot of Shingleback.

Last year they released the D Block Reserve. One taste and I was head over heels for this wine! Last night I dipped into my supply. I love this wine because it stands well on it’s own but complements quite a range of food. In the Seattle area I believe QFC is carrying the non-reserve wine and it can sometimes be found at Costco. I’m sure other places carry it, too, I just happened to know those two. But no matter where you live I recommend you take a look for this wine. You won’t be disappointed!