2006 Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz

Here we are with another Mollydooker bottle – last year the 2005 sold out within days around here, but the 2006 is still available at most places in these parts for about $20. I read about this wine a while back and found this interesting tidbit on their website called the Mollydooker Shake: basically open the bottle, pour out half a glass, recap it, and shake shake shake.

Our first notes are before the shake:

A huge punch of alcohol on the nose, with licorice and cherry.

This is an enormous wine – big fruit, big spice, big sugar, and big heat. The high alcohol content (16%) will most likely turn some people off, but every so often this is a fun wine to indulge in. I'm getting blueberry and cherry, ultra ripe plum, a mix of spices, but almost no tannins.

Not much on the finish, though I do seem to be getting some oak notes – it's mainly heat though.

Now – I recapped the bottle, did the shake, and tried again.


Red and black licorice as well as some herbal notes on the nose, but interestingly – the punch of alcohol has disappeared.

Still huge, but the alcohol has subsided. Oak is co\ming through, as well as a fair amount of spice – pepper and clove – the fruit is still mostly blueberry and cherry. It's far more peppery after the shake.

The finish is still tame – a bit of heat, though not nearly as harsh, and some nice black pepper is now predominant.

Before the shake, I probably would've hesitated recommending this – but I feel the shake and a good four hours of air really helped this one calm down a bit and brought up some depth, and dare I say finesse? Either way, this is an outstanding value.