There are 14,000 cases of the 2006 3 Rings Shiraz. a wine sourced from three Barossa vineyards. The wine was aged in seasoned American oak. Opaque purple colored, it offers up a jammy perfume of cedar, spice box, violets, blueberry, and blackberry. This leads to a medium to full-bodied wine made in a surprisingly elegant style. Supple-textured, full-flavored, with well-integrated tannin, this hedonistic effort will evolve for 3-5 years but can be enjoyed now and over the next 10 years.R Wines is a new company founded by importer and marketing genius, Dan Philips, along with co-owner, renowned winemaker, Chris Ringland. Winemakers for R Wines are Chris Ringland, Lisa Wetherell, Andrew Hercock, and John Hughes. It encompasses four familiar labels, Marquis Philips, 3 Rings, Roogle, and Bitch, along with 13 others created especially for R Wines. Needless to say, the packaging of these wines is amazingly creative but, more importantly, what is in the bottle consistently over-delivers from low-end to high-end. The R series features Cabernet Sauvignon from the Barossa and a Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon from McLaren Vale. The labels portray different takes on the letter “R”. Consumers owe it to themselves to read the witty back labels. The Marquis Philips wines have established a six year track record of delivering a big bang for the buck. The wines are now made by a team put together by Dan Philips and Chris Ringland with absolutely no change in quality. Starting with the 2006 vintage, however, all of the fruit is sourced from McLaren Vale. The other change of note is that Merlot has been dropped from the program, primarily because of the difficulty of finding Merlot good enough to merit the M-P label.Importer: Dan Philips, The Grateful Palate, Oxnard, CA; tel. (805) 278-9095

Smooth and graceful, offering a fairly plush mouthful of plum, blackberry and a nice hint of peppermint as the finish rolls on. Has a purity and focus that's beguiling. Drink now through 2016.??–HS??Region: Australia / Barossa / Barossa Valley Select to Add