Looking for a thick dark shiraz after a busy week, and not wanting to venture for miles to find it, I visited Coles King St, Sydney, and into the Liquorland inside.

Heading straight for the reds, I was warmly greeted only after a moment by a very helpful woman, who suggested based on my needs I should consider this 2009 River Park Cabernet Sauvignon instead. She explained confidently it would suit my needs perfectly, 2009 was a great year and at $18 it was a great deal.

What’s even more surprising is that this wine is from Cowra, NSW.

While I didn’t have too much confidence in this, and only agreed as I was given a good sales pitch, I decided to take it for a test run.

I wasn’t disappointed. This wine has blunt-force-trauma strength. It gets straight to the point and does have a very nice dry finish as the bottle says.

The bottle states “an elegant tannin structure” which I would strongly agree with. It doesn’t have the acidity of some other red wines of similar or lower price and it is nice and thick.

I’d consider having this late evening with some creamy full body cheese like goats cheese, a quality creamy blue or a creamy camembert.