A nice, smooth $8 Trader Joe’s find for the Australian Shiraz lovers, the Pozzy McLaren Vale Shiraz.
Shiraz from McLaren Vale, Australia.
This wine is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s and sells for $7.99. It is imported by Flying Blue Imports who also produce the Costco Wine Advent Calendar. (See our review of the 2023 version at that link.)
From the bottle:
McLaren Vale is home to sustainable wine growing and world-class wines. The region’s Shiraz is widely perceived as Australia’s premier grape varietal.
Pozzy has an impressive array of savory aromas and flavors, beginning with blackberry, raspberry, and plum along with tantalizing hints of wild herbs, cracked black pepper, and exotic spices.
Produced by South Australian Wine Group
14.9% Alcohol
Contains Sulfites, Milk and Egg Whites
The first thing that stands out about this wine is that line on the bottom of the back label: “Contains Sulfites, Milk and Egg Whites”. We’re certainly used to the sulfite portion of that statement as it is required by the TTB but you may be wondering about the milk and eggs part, which you usually don’t see.
As our expert explained in our article on Wine Ingredients and Additives, milk (casein) and egg whites (albumin) are often used as fining agents. These compounds bind with unwanted components in wine and then are filtered out.
Kudos to Flying Blue for including this on the label as we are all about transparency in winemaking; however, it still seems a bit odd to include these and not for example, nutritional info or a full list of ingredients since these fining agents do not actually end up in the finished wine! In any case, on to the review.
The 2016 Pozzy Mclaren Vale Shiraz certainly smells like Australian Shiraz with a nose of ripe berry, plum and those signature black pepper notes plus a little smoked meat and spice.
The wine tastes similar to the nose with lots of very ripe fruit and the smoked meat note continuing. And while it’s definitely smooth and easy to drink, it could use a bit more structure. This is a nice one for Australian Shiraz lovers but probably won’t convert anyone over to this style.
It ends dry and with good length. It wasn’t quite as good on day 2 so drink up!
As always you can find an updated list of our recommended wines from Trader Joe’s as well as more info on their pricing model and some tips and tricks for shopping the store in our giant guide.
You can also find more of our favorite Shiraz here!
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