Pikes 2008 Eastside Shiraz

Under different circumstances I may well have delivered a polite refusal when the nice people from Pikes called at the end of the week that saw us back at base and contemplating kitchen conversions.

Having arrived home on Tuesday afternoon the unpacking and getting things sorted factor got us through Wednesday and well into Thursday, and there was plenty of catching up to do, so checking wine stocks and looking at reorders was hardly the highest priority.

I knew there was a box coming from Helm, there would be half dozens from Hay Shed Hill, Baileys and Brook Eden in the pipeline between mid-May and the new financial year, and I'd be looking at mixed boxes from Lerida Estate, Lark Hill and Clonakilla over the next month or two. I really need to get something from Cullen in Margaret River as well, so you might think that there wouldn't have been much room for anything else along the way.

I hadn't actually got to the monitoring stock levels side of things, but I couldn't help the sneaking suspicion that we were light on for wine at the everyday drinking end of the spectrum, things that slot in between the el cheapo Tahbilk Everyday Drinking bottles left over after we've resupplied The Barra and the mid- to high-twenties that aren't quite your everyday quaffers but deserve something better than Hughesy's regular curry and pasta staples.

There's still a reluctance to open a really good bottle with the chilli con carne…

And if the call from Pikes had been offering something other than the Traditionale Riesling (RRP $23) and the Eastside Shiraz ($25) for an effective $18 a bottle freight free, I may well have been issuing a polite not this time, thanks.

On the other hand I knew I was light on for everyday drinking Riesling, and I need at least one bottle every week…

The Shiraz would, I reckoned, be handy along the way as well, particularly when the new oven's ability to deliver roasts and pizza was factored in.

In any case, the dozen took a good two and a half weeks to arrive, and if I'd known that I may well have gone to Tahbilk to meet the perceived requirements.

Pikes 2008 Eastside Shiraz (4* $25) Plums and berries on the nose with a touch of peppery spice thrown in for good measure, plenty of fruit and smooth chocolaty tannins across the palate. Very enjoyable  drinking, though I'm not sure I'd be queueing up for a resupply.