Gemtree Vineyards 2007 Tadpole Shiraz

Many of us reach a point in our lives when we decide that we want to take responsibility for our consumption, putting natural products in our body and avoiding those with questionable production ethics. Personally I can only stand doing that while drunk, which means I had to go out and find me a good organic wine. As it is, organic wines have always been on the market because some people demand wine without added sulfites, which are a natural byproduct of making wine but some people use them to stunt the wines growth and control their product, at the cost of giving their drinkers some pretty unpleasant headaches.

I’ve tried a bunch of organic wines recently and they where all better than what I am accustomed to enjoying, but I finally ran into one that I really wanted to write about. This is the 2007 Tadpole Shiraz produced by Gemtree Vineyards, easily one of the richest and most flavorful wines I’ve had in recent memory.

As soon as you pour it well it is hard to miss the very deep purple, almost black color of the wine. The density of its color is immediately promising; you have no hope of seeing light pass through more than a few centimeters of this wonderful liquid. On the nose it is sweet and smoky at the same time, although cinnamon and oak are prominent as well.

It’s taste reminds me of black mulberries, the dark fruits that left long-lasting stains on us when we would climb up to steal them from our neighbors. Also it has that smoky oak flavor that I crave in wine but that too often disappears after a sip and leaves behind a hollow watery emptiness. Here it endures and acts to subdue the tannin, which I would have expected to be excessive at a glance but is in fact quite balanced. Also while it makes a pleasant sipping wine I recommend taking one large mouthful at some point, you will find that it really has something to offer to every part of your tongue.