3 Rings 2006 Barossa Valley Shiraz

If you're wondering if everybody here at Wine Waves has a fetish for Grateful Palate imported wines, wonder no more. We do, and so should you. They find talented people (mostly in Australia) making excellent wines at reasonable prices and then they put them on a plane or boat (or dirigible, the method of transport isn't clear) and bring them to your neck of the woods (if you're lucky).

That's the long way of saying I'm reviewing another Grateful Palate imported wine - this week the 2006 Barossa Valley from 3 Rings. Having had many positive experiences with  Grateful Palate imported wine, I was well prepared to enjoy 3 Rings Shiraz.

But I didn't.

There are several reasons, primarily the odd, funky finish. I let it air for a while and after 2-3 hours the dark plummy fruit came out more but really didn't sell me either. To be completely honest I won't buy another bottle of 3 Rings. There are better Shiraz out there - R Wines Boarding Pass for example, is $3 more expensive but far more interesting and drinkable. I will say that 3 Rings avoids most all the dirty dishwater flavors of other inexpensive Shiraz, and at $15 it's not a bad glass of wine, but there are so many better it's hard to justify buying or drinking.

Price: $15 (Costco - Out West). Closure: Screw top. Alcohol content: 15.0%.