My wine of the week is a South African Shiraz 2007 from Muratie Estate. I was shocked to find that I kept going back for more of this wine during the England vs. USA world cup match. I was invited to a lovely party by Wines of South Africa to watch the game. While we watched the game, we were also able to taste a wide variety of sparkling, white and red wines from South Africa and sample great food from Rouge Tomate

My favorite was this Shiraz. It was quite dark in color and was complex with spicy notes but it was a bit more restrained than many Shiraz based wines that I have tasted. It’s peppery notes went very well with the small hamburgers we were served.

The wine is made from grapes harvested from three different vineyard parcels on the same estate. The oldest of the lot was planted in 1975. The remaining two were planted in 1994 and 1998. The soils on these vineyards are rich sandstone and the grapes are all handpicked.

The wine is imported by Worthwhile Wine Company in Atlanta.