Molly Dooker: The Boxer Shiraz 2014

A friend of mine used to come to my office when he wasn’t out selling newspaper advertising or spending time with his lovely wife. I always keep an acoustic guitar handy for those days when I need some music therapy and one afternoon he came in, sat down, picked up the guitar and started playing. He played the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Boxer” from beginning to end. When the song was over he looked at me and said, “I’m sick.” He passed away a year later and now that song doesn’t mean what it used to mean to me. Now it’s an homage to a great man that I knew.

Flash forward a couple of years and I was searching for new wines to sample and write about, when up pops The Boxer Shiraz from Molly Dooker. My friend instantly came to mind. It was high time to have a drink in his honor. I knew Molly Dooker wines but I had never tried this one so into the cart it went. When it arrived, the label made me chuckle a bit. It has a cartoon of a muscle bound pugilist with a five o’clock shadow and an anchor tattoo on one side of the label and the name, varietal, and vintage on the other.

After a couple of days, I was able to sit down, relax, and open the wine. It has a nice looking screw cap, my preferred closure. No possibility of cork taint! I bought some new Bordeaux style wine glasses so I took one out and poured a half glass of Shiraz. The appearance was a wonderful deep purple (insert Smoke on the Water riff here). The taste was NOT smoke on the water. It was hints of tart red cherry at the beginning and a long finish of blackberries and spices you might find in an aged rum like white pepper and all spice. The tannins were a little softer than what I was expecting from a higher end Australian Shiraz. It comes from McLaren Vale which happens to be one of my favorite spots on the planet. I didn’t know that when I ordered it, but it was a happy surprise. Overall, this wine was brilliantly put together. One of those wines where everything happened exactly as it should have. It was well worth a little higher price of about US$25. I love this wine. It was the perfect way to honor Kip's memory. Cheers, mate.

P.S. Aren’t you glad I didn’t say “this wine has a wicked left hook” or “I could go three rounds with this wine anytime”. You’re welcome.

Here's a link to the Molly Dooker website. It's a trip. www.mollydookerwines.com

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