Wine Tasting: Penfolds Cab/Shiraz

I think I've had mabye two or three Penfolds wines in my life. The other two weren't awesome enough to remember, but I've always thought of them as producing good wines because they have cool labels. Yes, I like their labels - clean, simple, but striking red on white. (Did I just admit that I know nothing about wine? Probably.)

Anyway, my wife and I had some friends over for burgers the other night, and they brought a 2002 Penfolds Cabernet-Shiraz. Here's a nice breakdown of the wine too. I was pleased with this wine, so let me tell you about it.

First, my burgers. Ground beef patties seasoned with copious amounts of cracked pepper, sea salt, garlic and paprika. Toast the buns with olive oil and cracked pepper. Top the burger with this Gorgonzola mix:

3 Tbsp Gorgonzola
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsph Tapatio or other vinegary hot sauce

Mix well and top on your burgers while still on the grill.

Now for the wine:

Color was a deep purple with hints of brown edges in the right light. Nothing that would turn you off, but man was it deep. I was nursing a cold, so I couldn't quite get the aroma, which appeared to be "thick" - that's the only way I could describe it. On the palate, dried fruit...maybe apricot, prune...not in the candied sense you're ready for, but more of the muted introduction, along with a hint of citric something and salt. That suprised me - salt.

So, this wine with a good slab of beef? Good choice.

~ Brock