There are friends of mine that would shudder if they found out that I buy wine at the grocery store. Personally, I don’t see what the problem is. The grocery store is close and it is very convenient to pick up bottles for the week. No, they’re probably not selling Burgundy or Bordeaux, but they are selling the wines that most people are drinking. The making of these wines is most likely mechanized, meaning that machinery is used to pick and sort the grapes, as well as make the wine. Mechanization lowers the cost to produce the wine and allows the winery to produce more of it.
But many people associate mechanization of wine with the quality-using equipment makes a wine of less quality than a wine that was made with grapes that were hand-picked. This is far from the truth. A grape that was hand-pick but not ripe is going to make a bad wine compared to a grape that is ripe but was picked using equipment.
So, when I was wandering the wine aisle during a recent grocery trip, I spotted the Sideshow Shiraz on the shelf. It had a little card that said it was the employees special find. So, I thought I would give it a shot. Shiraz is one of my favorite wines and I figured I couldn’t lose, especially for six bucks.
For the price, this wine does not disappoint. It has all the components that I would expect from an Australian Shiraz. The fruit is dark-plum, blackberries and blueberries with a splash of red cherry and raspberry. It is also spicy-hints of green pepper, black pepper, cinnamon and black licorice. The tannins are not overpowering and they balance out the alcohol (13.5% abv). This wine is fruity without being sweet and the fruit is nicely balanced with the spicy components.
I had an idea to pair it with a Southwest Breakfast Bowl I was making for dinner. It had kielbasa, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, rice, and green onion-all topped with an egg and salsa. While the pairing was ok, I think that the saltiness of the sausage dampened the fruit in the wine and brought out more of the pepper characteristics. A better pairing might have been a simple hamburger with fixings.
But this wine is fine all on it’s own and doesn’t need to be paired to be enjoyed. So, the next time you’re at the grocery store, don’t be afraid to pick up a bottle-you might be surprised at what you find.