Joseph River Cabernet-Merlot-Shiraz, Australia, 2009

This was a recent acquisition at my store and was a real pleasant surprise. I've had 2 bottles of it over the last couple of weeks, if that gives you any indication of my overall thoughts on this wine. But let's get down to brass tacks.

We've covered Australia before, and each of the grapes contained in the wine, so I'm going to forego my usual background spiel and discuss the wine itself.

Even though it's a relatively inexpensive wine at $15, there's a surprising level of acidity in the wine, which it needs. Australian Cabernet and Shiraz, when young, are so rich and decadent that they need some sort of acid to keep everything in balance, or else you have this fat round wine that is unable to do much for your palate because of its lack of balance.

The bouquet is inviting with notes of chocolate, raspberries and both green and black pepper. The palate showed that acidity on the forefront (perhaps they added some acidic element during the wine production?); while it wasn't as well integrated as one would like, for a $15 wine, we can't have everything. But beyond the acid there are lots of fresh berries a little of the tell-tale Shiraz spicy quality and an addictive oaky quality that many Australian wines are becoming known for.

This is becoming my go-to for an everyday wine that one could have on its own or with a rich fish (think salmon or tuna) that has a really strong sauce.