Laughing Kangaroo Shiraz 2002

This 2002 Laughing Kangaroo Shiraz was a very, very dark purplish red, almost black, with a red berries and a little pepper on the nose. I thought I detected some of the clove that would be varietally appropriate, but Margaret Anne didn't get it.

Very dry and not as peppery as some Shirazes, but it's hard to say much more about it because the extremely high alcohol content, 14.5 percent, meant that mostly it just tasted hot: the alcohol simply wiped out whatever nuance we might otherwise have noticed.

Not bad, but probably wouldn't buy it again because of the alcohol content.