Western Australian Wines that are Drinkable? Have I Gone Insane?

The one thing that I learned about turning 40 recently, is that all my friends and family must think that the only thing I do with my spare time is drink wine and whiskey. I now have more red wine and whiskey than I have places to store them.

The positive of this of course, is that I now have an abundance of wines to review. And this is my first since crossing into a new decade of existence on this little blue ball of ours.

So, let's crack open the first bottle of my new collection!

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Byron & Harold Estate - Circle of Life Four Seasons

I'll be honest here. I'm not normally a fan of Western Australian wines and tend to avoid them, unless I'm given them for free.

I had low expectations for this wine. And not just because it's from Western Australia. There's also very little information available online about this wine. Generally, if a wine is worth drinking, people are talking about it. And that's not really the case here.

Byron & Harold Estate describe this wine as:

Lifted bouquet of complex dark fruits and violets with underlying dense dark chocolate. Full fleshy mouth feel of bramble fruits, cherry, hints of chocolate with subtle savoury spice and well integrated firm tannins. Supported by complex oak with great length and a fine, full finish. A generous, flavoursome, medium weight red wine.
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Personally, I found this wine to be subtle but reasonably complex in aroma and flavour. The wine pours a deep red, very similar to a good shiraz. There are notes of cherries and dark fruits in the aroma however I didn't detect any of the chocolate mentioned above.

On the palate, the cherries follow through along with a light sweetness and soft tannins. The wine has a soft finish, and a lingering sweetness. The sweetness isn't overpowering like a dessert wine, but is quite pleasant.

The wine isn't overpowering so would suit a variety of dishes for pairing. Perhaps not seafood or light vegetarian meals though.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this wine. Western Australia is mostly known for it's white wines, however has been known to produce a decent cabernet from time to time. And in this example, it has produced a great cabernet and merlot blend.

And for this price, you really can't go wrong. It can be quite hard to find a good wine at this price, but that is what we have here.

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Wine Info and Rating

Wine	Grape	Origin	Alc	Vintage	Rating	Price
Byron & harold Estate - Circle of Life	Cabernet Merlot	Wandering, WA	14.5%	2016	7	$25

_{All ratings are out of 10}

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