Two days ago I received a press release announcing details of a fine wine sale running simultaneously in some of Dublin’s best wine shops such as Redmond’s in Ranelagh, Thomas’s in Foxrock, 64 Wine in Glasthule, Gibney’s in Malahide and McHugh’s of Kilbarrack Rd and Malahide Rd. My eye was immediately caught by the De Bortoli Shiraz Viognier 2007 from Australia’s Yarra Valley. Over the years this wine, and its predecessors from a number of vintages, has done remarkably well in Food & Wine Magazine tastings. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it has consistently been the highest scorer in the magazine’s 15-year history.

So I was delighted to see that, according to the press release, it was marked down from €33.99 to €16.99. However, in the advertisement spotted in this morning’s paper the reduction is a more modest, though still attractive, €33.50 to €22.99. But hold, in the current, March issue of Food & Wine the price of this wine is given as €28.95. (This is the recommended retail price received from the suppliers when the wine was submitted for the tasting.) In this issue the wine tasting theme is Australian Shiraz and the De Bortoli 2007 did remarkably well, rating 5 out of 5, as it has done before. It is an excellent wine and, with a commendably modest alcohol level of 13%, it is far from the stereotype of skull-rattling Oz Shiraz.

At €16.99 it would be a steal. At €22.99 it is certainly good value. At €28.95 it punches its weight. At €33.99 – where was that figure plucked from?

Tags: Shiraz