Schubert The Gosling Shiraz 2018
- 95
- $50
- Drink by: 2024-2039
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The goose theme is strong with this winery and presumably they have reason. To be honest, it sits a little awkwardly for someone who was scarred for life by a rampant goose when he was young – staying with some university friends in Melbourne, mid-winter, we’d arrived late at night and so it was sleeping bags on the lounge floor. Not knowing where the facilities were, as it was dawn, and no wanting to wake anyone, I ducked out to the garden, where I was attacked by an insane goose. Driven up, on top of a fence, freezing in nothing but my undies, I sat while the goose made so much noise that it woke not just the household but every house in the street. The story ends well as the goose became so aggressive it was relocated to a farm where it attacked a herd of cattle. Apparently, all that was left was a few feathers
I take great pleasure in ordering goose whenever a menu allows. But I digress. This is a single vineyard wine, under diam. From estate vineyards in the Marananga sub-region, the wine spends 18 months in older French oak to mature. Near black in colour, this is inky and tarry with notes of mocha, chocolate, blackberries, cloves and a hint of orange rind. Espresso, black olives and coffee beans emerge on the palate. Rich and extracted, generously structured, well balanced with very fine tannins. This has a good fifteen years ahead of it. A superb, big, bold Barossa Shiraz. Love it.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
