OUR FAVORITE SPARKLING RED: BLACK CHOOK SHIRAZ

Here is another of our favorites, this time it's an unusual sparkling wine, a sparkling red!

A couple of years ago, we attended a wine tasting at our favorite local wine bar in Houston, Sonoma.  One of the wines we tasted was a sparkling Shiraz from Australia.

We loved it.  It is sweet, juicy, fizzy, and has a strong flavor of berries.

This is from Australian, a winery called Penny's Hill.  It's very bubbly, just like Champagne.

During Hurricane Ike a few months later, we found a bottle at a local store that was still open.  We bought a bottle and used it to celebrate when the power came back on (2 weeks later!).

Later we bought 3 bottles online and have slowly used them for special occasions.  One bottle we had at Thanksgiving and it was delicious with turkey and dressing, and another bottle we used for a birthday celebration.  We still have one bottle left, which we're saving for our first dinner at the farm.

Syrah Grape

It is made from the Syrah grape shown above.

Here are the official winemaker notes:

This non-vintage wine sparkles to the tune of a well blended, predominately 3 year old Shiraz, aged in old French oak barrels showing wonderful smooth integrated fruit and a rich weighty texture across the palate.  This is blended with a touch of younger Shiraz bringing ripe juicy fruit character to the finished product.  A rich, luscious sparkling wine that is well balance and food friendly.

So pick up a bottle of this and enjoy it on your special occasion.