The second in the Salena Estate stable of organic wines is their Shiraz.

It was actually tasted a week ago, before the Salena Estate Chardonnay.

Thoughts on freebies & disclosure

There are very few poor reviews of wine written in Ireland, perhaps for a number of reasons.

Here’s one school of thought…

As there are so few column inches dedicated to wine, wine writers don’t have the expense accounts they’d wish for.

Many wines are tasted at free tasting events organised by retailers or distributors.

So, wine writers can be at the mercy of suppliers and retailers and the wines they wish to promote. Write a bad review and you bite the hand that feeds you.

However, from my perspective, the wine industry in Ireland really isn’t that cynical a place – it seems to be open, friendly and approachable.

Besides, with so many wines to choose from why fill the so few column inches with poor reviews?

With the above concerns in mind, I tasted this wine with twelve colleagues and the verdict was unanimously positive.

How did it go down?

Very smooth and rich, I got a lot of plums and blackberries. Restrained spice rather than full on dominating – somewhat like a northern Rhône Syrah blend.

There’s a full tasting note on the Salena Estate website

Although more expensive, it is vastly superior to the Aussie Shiraz on our supermarket shelves.

I think it drank really well on its own and one of my colleagues suggested a variety of cheeses as a good match,

Where to get Salena Estate Organic Shiraz

Buy the Salena Organic Shiraz for €18 from The Wine Vault, High Street, Waterford,

or online from dennisonwines.com »

Disclosure: wine received at no cost from David Dennison Fine Wines, Waterford.