161. Nugan Estate Mankuna Grove Durif 2003

It’s amazing how quickly you can get bored of wine. We’re not bored of drinking the wine but we are a bit bored of the grape varieties. Shiraz-this Merlot-that. Of course there is quite a taste variation from one Cab Sauv to the next but all in all one Zinfandel tastes similar to the next.

So as I was perusing the shelves of a local wine shop I came across this treat. Durif! I’d never even heard of this grape before so I snapped up a bottle. As usual it was raining and I had quite a lot of blog catch-up to do on the computer to I cracked open the bottle and got stuck in. This was certainly a find. People always talk about reds being “earthy” but this was like biting into the grape while it was still on the branches and sucking the soil up from the ground, through the vine and into the grape itself. Very very tasty and for once I actually understood what the blurb on the label was going on about.