Layer Cake Shiraz 2008, reviewed

“My old grandfather made and enjoyed wine for 80 years. He told me the soils in which the vines lived were a layer cake. He told me the soil in which the vines lived were a layer cake. He said, the wine, if properly made,was like a great layer cake, fruit, mocha, chocolate, and hints of spice — and rich, always rich.
‘Never pass up a good Layer Cake,’ he would say.

“I have always loved those words.”         (from the wine’s label)

I tried to resist trying this wine when I first saw it in stores a couple of months ago, but it was simply too difficult to resist the tempting illustration on the front of the bottle and the equally tempting description of what a wine should be in the quote above, which is featured on the front of the bottle. Plus, I also like shirazes. So I bought a bottle to give it a try.

Layer Cake Shiraz is made by Layer Cake Wine, and is produced in McLaren Vale in South Australia. It’s a nice, well-balanced shiraz that has a lot of fruity, berry flavor to it. And it tastes very clean, not overly sweet or jammy; it tastes more like fresh berries. I can detect blueberries, blackberries and cherries in there. Keep in mind that I am not an expert wine taster, so I can’t accurately describe all of the other flavors mentioned in the wine’s tasting notes. Still, as a more experienced layer cake taster, I can tell you that this is a lovely and complex wine that would go very well with a chocolate or spice cake for dessert, as well as with a burger or steak at dinner.