Tonight's selection:
Wine: Frisky Zebras Seductive Shiraz, year unknown
Origin: South Africa
Price: $8.95
CC score: 4 of 5 = PFG
Welp... can't find a discernible vintage, and there are a lot of claims on the very adorable label (which, combined with the price, made my purchasing decision for me). I can tell you this: it won a silver in an "international wine challenge" in Vienna in 2011; it is a Fairtrade brokered product; it comes from a "certified carbon neutral" company (I have hives forming); there is some officious looking seal around the screw-top cap which assures me of certified "integrity & sustainability" from a wine and spirit board; the screw-top cap itself says "100% earth friendly lightweight bottle." It also depicts a cute cartoon of a someone petting a bunny, so I guess it was not tested on animals.
The zebra doth protest too much, methinks.
So the Zebra in the glass is one of the driest Shirazes I've ever tasted, but it loses zero dimension. Peppery, yes, as all good Shiraz should be. I think I can make out the chocolate described on the label, but not the yummy/menstrual kind - the bitter, powdered kind people used before cake-mixes were invented. It's round, fills the mouth elegantly, and is fairly delightful.
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| Jian Ghomeshi's memoir makes a nice coaster |
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| This wine will make you affectionate toward rodents. |
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| This wine is really, really, really, really, really, really earth friendly. And overcompensatey. |
Hi Carrie - Warmest wishes from South Africa. My name is David Bate, and I a Canuck making wine in South Africa. I am the winemaker at the United Nations of Wine, the maker of Frisky Zebras! Thanks for your review - we appreciate your comments of our award-winning wine. I thought I would just write to let you know that the seal you mention in your blog is the official seal issued by the Government of South Africa for wines that meet certain sustainability requirements, as that is something that is very important in South Africa, particularly given the country's past. All wines need to be approved by the Government to ensure quality - and you can get a normal seal or a sustainability seal. And we are very proud of our commitment to sustainability, not just in our winemaking practices but also in terms of how we treat our team and our customers. Also, we don't take ourselves too seriously, so the little rabbit is our cute way of poking fun at the fact that this wine has never been tested on any animals (only humans). But we do take our responsibility to the environment quite seriously - so being a CarbonNeutral company and delivering CarbonNeutral wines is something very important to us - we want to make sure that we leave no footprint behind except your enjoyment of our exceptional wines. We're glad you enjoyed it as we are constantly striving to improve our value for quality proposition and our winemaking team will definitely review your notes to get a better sense of how folks are experiencing our wines. Feel free to contact me if you have any other comments or if we can be of any further help (all our contact details are on our web site www.unitednationsofwine.com. And if you want to pick up a bottle of its sister wine, the Sensuous Sauvignon Blanc, and let us know what you think, that would be great, too. Kindest, David
ReplyDeleteWOW! An actual reader! David, you have made my day.
ReplyDeleteI have indeed seen the fancy sustainability label on a few other S.A. wines, so I accepted it as legit. Pardon me for taking the piss a little. As an ex-expatriate Canuck you must remember how quick we North Americans are to jump on bandwagons with irresistible trends and buzzwords... And generally speaking our mainstream "sustainable" practices here are all calculated marketing ploys. Yes, I am a cynic.
Also, I did try the Sensuous Sauv Blanc earlier this summer in not-my-usual-wine-drinking environment (me, on my porch alone with a laptop) and did not take to internetting. Tell you what though - I will give'r a proper go DW-style and post a review. It's the least I could do for my sole reader. ;)
Totsiens!
Carrie