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Shiraz South Africa

A few months ago I had a conversation with the owner of a wine store located in downtown NY city. I asked him quite simply “What do you drink?”

After a few expensive wine snob A list choices he went on to recommend that I start trying wines from South Africa. About a week later I was in my local wine shop looking for one of his bang for the buck suggestions. The name of the winery was “Goats Do Roam” a very respected South African Wine that costs about $11 a bottle. It was summer at the time and the bottle went great with a hot grill full of barbecued meets. Im not going to describe the wine with phrases like “hints of oak” or “mild flavors of cherry and chocolate”. If you see a bottle, it has a kind of yellowish orange label on it with a goat, just try it. Its worth the $11 and you might be surprised to like it more then those over priced commercial wines from the California that taste like advertising. 

More recently I found another great Shiraz from South Africa while shopping in Bottle Buys in Glen Head. (Check back on the site in a few weeks for a detailed review of Bottle Buys) This bottle was also in the $10 price range and was from the Paarl region and called Landskroon. This was a nice Shiraz that went good with the cheese I was snacking on at the time. The bottle I had picked was from 2005. A couple of years can really smooth out a wine. Usually most wines in this price range aren’t any older then 2006 or 2007.

When i spoke with the owner of the wine store many months ago he told me a secret.  When you buy wines places that the US Dollar is very weak you are paying much more money for good wine. When you buy a wines from places where the US Dollar is strong you are getting a wine that is worth much more for your money. So far this has proven well for my wallet and my wine glass. 

2 South African Wines To Try

Goats Do Roam

Landskroon

The Essential Guide To South African Wines

What are your favorite wines?