Aussie Wines!

I picked this baby up from one of my regular bottle shops for $25, just after a nice juicy Shiraz to go with steak.  It’s certainly done the job!

The Sorrento label is made by Serafino wines, by Serafino (Steve) Maglieri.  Does the name sound familiar?  You may have heard of Maglieri wines, a label that he made famous and then sold to one of the big boys.

Steve is famous for his Cabernet Sauvignon, having won a few very prestigious awards for it (check out serafinowines.com.au for all that info).  He started pruning vines and ended up as one of Australia’s more talented winemakers.  As Paul Kelly would sing: from little things, big things grow.

Steve makes four ranges at this winery, the top-shelf Serafino Sharktooth range, the standard Serafino range, the Sorrento labels and the Goose Island wines.  There isn’t a lot of detail about the different labels on the website, so I can’t tell you all that much.  What I DO know is that, for the price, this Sorrento label is looking pretty nice.

You’ll taste typical dark chocolate McLaren flavours, loads of cloves and spices and rich flavours of plum, with just a little heat from 14.5% alcohol and juicy berry flavours in the background, including ripe cherries.  It’s a fruit driven wine (that is, there’s little evidence of oak or other winemaker intervention), without being overly fruity.  It’s certainly gulpable and you shouldn’t hesitate to put this in a glass. 91 points.