Tait The Wild Ride Barossa Valley 2012

Bruno Tait has a knack for making decadent, intense, basket pressed wines, and Tait’s 2012 The Wild Ride is certainly decadent and intense, but more importantly, it is a pure pleasure to drink. Made from 60% Shiraz, 20% Grenache and 20% Mataro (also known as Mourvèdre), the 2012 The Wild Ride displays a deep ruby color, stunning aromatics and plenty of intense fruit. By basket pressing this heady GSM, fresh cherry and blackberry aromas jump from the glass and sink surreptitiously into the marrow of the wine. The result is a smooth intense wine of great energy and focus. In the mouth, the wine’s intense fruit flavors meld with delightful spice tones and dusty tannins to amplify the senses. With aeration, the wine grows even more decadent and powerful, without losing its focus. Tait’s The Wild Ride will certainly fill the mouth, and like all of Bruno Tait’s wines, it makes a bold, beautiful statement from start to finish. Enjoy this superb GSM at cool room temperature (60°-65°F) after at least 15-20 minutes of aeration, if you can wait that long. After one sip of this wine, you’ll know why the 2012 The Wild Ride garnered many 90+ point scores, including 91 points from Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. Enjoy!

Bruno Tait’s 2012 The Wild Ride calls for food as interesting and exciting as the wine. The Wild Ride was conceived after four years of experimentation, but matching food with the 2012 The Wild Ride should prove much less daunting. All kinds of meats and classic Mediterranean dishes complement this wine. Beef, lamb, and pork pair especially well with The Wild Ride. Herb and Black Olive Encrusted Pork Tenderloin served with garlic mashed potatoes is a perennial favorite. A rich Ratatouille, served with homemade pasta; and a full-flavored Chickpea, Tapenade and Roasted Red Pepper Spread, served on toasted rounds, provide other outstanding accompaniments to Tait’s iconic GSM. Thin slices of beef with a Shiraz demi-glaze on a bed of sweet potato mash wins high marks, too, especially when accompanied by roasted carrots, grilled sweet corn, and organic greens. Hand crafted cheeses such as Fontina, Gouda, Muenster, and Port Salut also provide simple, tasty accompaniments to the knockout 2012 The Wild Ride. Enjoy!

Tait is truly a boutique winery. Located in the small town of Lyndoch in the southern end of South Australia’s Barossa Valley, the winery overlooks the spectacular Barossa Ranges and is owned and run by Michael and Bruno Tait and Bruno’s wife, Michelle. They acquired the property in 1994 to continue the Tait family’s winemaking tradition. Although relatively new to winemaking, Michael and Bruno’s family had long been involved with wine. The brothers’ father, Giovanni Tait was a master cooper who migrated to Australia in 1957 from Italy where he worked in Barossa, making and repairing oak casks for ageing wine. He learned his trade in Italy from his father and grandfather, and combined the family has had over 100 years experience crafting oak casks. Nevertheless, Giovanni’s ultimate dream was to one day establish a family winery called Tait Wines, which came to fruition with his two sons.

Tait’s wine making philosophy is quite simple: produce hand crafted full-throttle wines that exhibit intense flavors and aromas. They use only the highest quality Barossa fruit from low yielding vines, many of which are 50-80 years of age. All of Tait’s wines are made on site and are hand crafted using traditional winemaking methods including open fermentation, extended maceration and basket pressing to ensure the highest quality and consistency.

Tait’s three iconic wines are this month’s feature, The Wild Ride, a rich superbly made GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) that ranks as one of Australia’s finest; The Ball Buster, a classic full-bodied Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot blend, and an eminent varietal bottling of Shiraz. Small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon are bottled as a varietal and round out the Tait portfolio.