Two Hands Gnarly Dudes

2006
Barossa Valley
Australia

I received another cherished glass hand-blown in Romania - thank you Mom for yet another pair to add to the collection.

It is alas, New Year’s Eve. I’ve never been a big New Year’s partier. I prefer to stay off the roads and just be at home, light a fire, play the last of my favorite Christmas Carols, bake some more Christmas cookies and pies, and reflect on my Christmas Tree. And this year, I’m actually finally doing my Christmas cards (on New Year’s Eve). I do also enjoy making a special dinner and partaking in more expensive wine. Tonight we are having a spoon roast (beef is something we RARELY indulge in) and twice baked potatoes, shrimp and Brie. We will be drinking more of the Chateau Saint-Jean Red Rhone The Bro brought last week with our beef as he highly recommends it be paired with beef and pepper. But, for our before dinner wine, we are tasting Two Hands Gnarly Dudes.

A few days ago I went out to get some Kahlua for a couple of trifles I was making. We have plenty of wine at home and I knew I had no need to purchase anything further for the upcoming holiday. However, a new Barossa arrival caught my eye. It was Two Hands Gnarly Dudes and I had to try it.

It is excellent. The Guy and I had it first alone. Then I made some Baked Brie and I warned The Guy when he couldn’t wait to eat it, that it would ruin the wine (Brie is very hard to pair with wine). It actually did not ruin the wine. It did change the flavor slightly, but not in a bad way. The wine tasted more “cherrylike” and less earthy following the Brie. Still very good.

Ironically, I traded trifle and pies (at least I think I did - I have yet to know if they were all even received in good order - they were very fresh when I made them so it would be a damn shame if they were allowed to sit for any lengthy period of time) for wine again this holiday and the wine I received was two bottles of Two Hands - one is Lily’s Garden and the other is Bella’s Garden. Both are Shiraz, but Lily’s is a McLaren Vale which is another favorite Shiraz region for me. As the aforementioned two are much more pricey than Gnarly Dudes, I am very curious to give them a try. I will wait. Maybe one will be tomorrow’s before-dinner tasting.

Gnarly Dudes is an inviting deep purple hue. For me it had a wonderful scent of cherries, and a powerful earth-packed punch of alcohol. The flavor was absolutely bursting with fruit, earth and heat (not too sweet, not too dry – perfect balance). The Guy was very excited to know, upon initial blind tasting, that he was drinking a Shiraz. He guessed it and he was pretty happy about it. But, as he said, “this is in a league above our normal Shiraz range”. I, on the other hand, recognized the Barossa Valley. He can identify it’s a Shiraz, and I know I’m tasting a Shiraz from the Barossa.

I’ve got no original thoughts to post lately – actually too many are flooding me right now, which makes it virtually impossible for me to pin any down. So, as I have always been a huge Dan Fogelberg fan, and he died just before Christmas – losing a battle with Prostate Cancer, I quote my favorite verses from Same Old Lang Syne and toast his music:

We drank a toast to innocence

We drank a toast to now

And tried to reach beyond the emptiness

But neither one knew how.

We drank a toast to innocence

We drank a toast to time

Reliving in our eloquence

Another ‘Auld Lang Syne’...

Just for a moment I was back at school

And felt that old familiar pain

And as I turned to make my way back home

The snow turned into rain --

Dan Fogelberg

9.0 out of 10
15.1% alc. by vol.
$27 / 750 ml bottle
http://www.twohandswines.com/