A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A Shiraz From South Africa

You may have noticed that we have recently reviewed several quite good South African wines, both bargain and organic. Today's offering is an Ubuntu Shiraz. Ubuntu is a humanist ideology often found in South Africa, expressing the idea that "a person is a person through people." Ubuntu is also a major version of the Linux operating system, a competitor to Windows. And now back to wine.

South Africa is the world's eighth largest wine producer and has been producing wine for hundreds of years. After World War I as a reaction to overproduction millions of vines were uprooted and replanted in alfalfa to feed the ostriches whose feathers were a hot fashion item in post-War Europe. When these feathers lost popularity the land went back to grapes. The Coop. Winegrowers Association whose initials are KWV was founded by the government in 1918. This group once controlled nearly all South African wine; it still handles about a quarter of the production. Shiraz is an up and coming red variety in South Africa (it rules the roost in Australia and in parts of the Rhone Valley in France under the name Syrah.)

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed Ubuntu Shiraz South Africa 2007 13.7% alcohol about $9

Let's start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Light to medium ruby red color; aromas and flavors of black cherry, cedar, and vanilla with hints of tar and earth; dry, medium bodied, with sweet fruit center; good length. And now for my review.

At the first sips the wine tasted grapey, slightly sweet, and a bit thin. The initial meal was a boxed vegetarian lasagna with Ricotta and Mozzeralla cheese that I liberally doused with grated Parmesan cheese. The wine's acidity seemed untamed and definitely out of balance. But I did note tobacco in the background as well as black cherries.

The second meal consisted of zucchinis and onions stuffed with rice and lightly spiced ground beef on a bed of sliced potatoes. I tasted lots of oak. The Shiraz had soft tannins and tasted of black cherries but was a wee bit harsh. It actually got harsher as the meal went on.

The final meal included home barbecued skin-on chicken thighs and wings that had been marinated for two days in a fruity Thai barbecue sauce, accompanied by potato patties and a fresh, garden-style tomato. With the wings the Ubuntu was dark, oaky, and flavorful. It was dark but went fine with the white meat. With the more powerful tasting thighs I still got black cherries, tobacco, and oak. The tomato did a fine job of cutting the wine's acidity.

Before i paired this wine with two cheeses I tried it with Matjes herring. The wine was slightly sweet with soft tannins. With Asiago cheese the Shiraz lost some of its bite, while maintaining a presence. With a Swiss Emmenthaler the wine picked up a bit of fruit.

Final verdict. I certainly don't plan to buy this wine again. But if you want a not bad red with a lot of alcohol at a fairly low price you could certainly do worse. I have recently tasted several South African wines so I don't plan to come back in the near future.