December 20, 2009 12:21:13 PM EST
Over a big drink in a small bar in Italy two Aussie mates decided to make their perfect shiraz.
This is the story of 2 Mates Shiraz
There is a defining moment in all our lives
Several years ago my good mate David Minear and I attended our friend Steve’s 40th birthday celebrations in the tiny walled village of Panicale in Umbria, Italy. It was the trip of a lifetime and included elements in life we really enjoy … mateship, family, food, wine and discovery.
Umbria is an amazing region of Italy. Nestled right next to Tuscany. You experience endless hills, forests, rolling pastures, ancient villages, great food and wine, olives, wild boar and it is equally famous for its black truffles as its forest mushrooms.
At the end of one long day, which had included a morning wine tasting at “Ghino’s” in Pienza, a long lunch at the lovely Daria’s restaurant “La Porta” in Montecchiello and several cleansing ales at Café Poliziano in Montepulciano we returned to Sylviane’s tiny wine bar in Panicale for some more wine. Like we needed it? After a few more reds David and I agreed that “whilst Tuscany’s wine heroes of Brunello and Vino Nobile are great reds they didn’t take us to the wine highs we get back in our world … our world of smooth, massive, fruit driven, chocolate, tobacco and peppery shiraz’s of McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley”.
Then and there we declared to anyone who would listen “one day we are going to make our perfect shiraz”. Steve nodded knowingly and smiled. The name came easy ... 2 Mates making their perfect shiraz ... and the rest is history.
