2005 Turkey Hill Barossa Valley Shiraz

Wow.

Ok, let me first start with the setting for this wine because it gets into the topic of melding food and wine, only on the highest scale: Thanksgiving. Wine, when chosen carefully, can make the flavors in food more pronounced. This is not always an easy proposition however.

This issue is magnified at Thanksgiving, because of the number of different dishes and flavors. Turnips, mashed potatoes, stuffing (variations on this side dish aloneare many), cranberry sauce/relish, corn, brussel sprouts. Oh, and let's not forget the turkey! How can you possibly pick a bottle that can stand up to all of these flavors? Good question. Many experts and sommeliers will tell you that zinfandel is the way to go. Others speak to the virtues of a white wine, such as chardonnay, riesling or gewurtztraminer.

This year, I chose an Australian shiraz, for its dark fruit flavors. I didn't choose the wine based on the name of the vineyard but I could have and I would have been happy with that rationale. The best way I could think of to describe this bottle was blackberry pie. It was a perfect accompaniment to the cranberry relish, to the turkey and to the stuffing of fresh bread, pine nuts, red mustard greens and currants. The wine more than held its own against my full plate but it also didn't extend itself to the point where it took away from any of the strong flavors of the food. I'd call it a perfect match.

Robert Parker gave this wine a 95, Wine Enthusiast a 94 and Wine Spectator a 91. In this case, I'd have to go with WE as the wine was a great buy, even at $40 retail. It will age for at least 15 more years so I'd buy and hold.