Royal Wines is the world's largest producer, importer, and distributor of Kosher wine. This family-owned winery is now in the eighth generation. They started in Czechoslovakia in 1848. An early owner, Baron Herzog, was designated as the Royal winemaker to Emperor Franz-Joseph, the head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The company is now located in the United States and produces wine in twelve countries including Australia. Royal uses no gelatin or animal-based acidifying agents in their wine. Altoona Hills is one of their Australian labels. This particular wine was bottled in Balaclava, a suburb of Melbourne that takes its name from a battle in the Crimean War in 1854, a battle mentioned in Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade. Today's companion wine is a moderate priced (available for less than $15) south Australian red blend that earned a score of 91 from the famous wine reviewer, Robert Parker. OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review have been purchased at the full retail price. Wine Reviewed Altoona Hills Cabernet/Shiraz 2007 13.5% alcohol about $10 Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. Description : Good concentration of blackberry, plum, new leather, toasty oak and cassis. Dry and fruity with good body and weight. A great choice for your very best gourmet hamburgers or grilled steak. Tasting Note : Medium ruby red color; aromas of cooked blackberries, plum and spice, dry, full-bodied, rich, with flavors of plum, spice and red berries. And now for my review. At the first sips this red blend showed great balance between acidity and fruit, mostly plums. It had fine oak. My first meal consisted of a boxed vegetarian lasagna containing ricotta and mozzarella cheese. I slathered it with grated parmesan cheese and found that the wine gained intensity. The next meal was chili with rice and okra cooked in tomato sauce and coriander. When accompanying the meat, this wine was multilayered; its main component was plums. When paired with delicious okra the wine's oak intensified and I got lots of dark fruit, in particular plums and cherries. I added a generous amount of ground chili peppers to the meat dish and the Cabernet/Shiraz stepped up in power. Dessert was fresh honeydew that denatured the wine, leaving it tasting only of acidity. May we assume that red wine and honeydew is not a marriage made in heaven? My final meal centered around slow-cooked beef ribs accompanied by chickpeas. The wine was mouth-filling, well balanced, and powerful with the meat. It was not as enjoyable with the chickpeas; its acidity was excessive. The accompanying tomato, onion, green pepper, artichoke, and jalapeno, lime salsa managed to weaken this wine somewhat. My first cheese was a marbled cheddar. This blend was quite long with well-balanced acidity and slightly sweet. With a more interesting Swiss cheese the wine showed good balance but was weakened. Final verdict. I would not only buy this wine again, I did so. I picked up two bottles, one for my wine club and one for a gift or a retasting, perhaps a year from now.
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