Paringa 2004 South Australia Sparkling Shiraz

It's red. It's fizzy. It's impossible not to think about Cold Duck.

Unlike a recently-posted pair of wines which overcome the sometimes flabby nature of Shiraz/Syrah by blending in a bit of Viognier, this balances the perhaps too-ripe fruit with dilute carbonic acid.

Near opaque purple color, that it raises a Welch's-Grape-Juice-purple head is fun and exciting.

Plum and black cherry smell with a bit of oak.

Ripe plum and black cherry flavors, fruit sweetness, oak is there but only if you hunt for it.

There's never a moment's doubt, in every mouthful this is a red wine.
Even the richest Blanc de Noirs was never this luscious.

Don't tell my doctor, but tonight I open and finish a bottle, so no 'next day' comments. Sparkling wine, I admit, is my weakness. A $20.00 limit for blog posts was thus a curious choice.

I would will cheerfully buy this again for $10.29. This is fun and the hell with looking for flaws. This would put a new cast on my near-weekly sessions of enjoying WRC reruns with a bottle of fizz.