Price: $5
Maker: Mattie’s Perch, Adelaide, South Australia
Varietal: 60% Cabernet, 40% Shiraz blend
Packaging: 750 ml bottle, artificial cork
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Mattie’s Perch Cabernet Shiraz, a non-vintage blend, was pleasant enough for a low cost wine. This blend’s aroma offers berry notes with a bit of clove. The flavor is fruit-forward, with raspberry, cherry, blackberry notes; in the finish, there is a bit of pepper and oak. This isn’t a complex wine – the fruit really dominates. Like its sibling, Mattie’s Perch Shiraz, it’s pleasant and inoffensive. Oh, did I say it was cheap?
Mattie’s Perch Cabernet Shiraz isn’t a great wine, or even a particularly good one, but it’s better than low end alternatives like Franzia box wines or some of the $3-range bottles.
I appreciate your effort in this site, but why do you have a 10-point scale when you rate 90% of your wines an 8 or an 8.5? I would love your site if you took bolder stance in your rating.
I agree that the “resolution” of my ratings is limited. I started off with a 10 point scale meant to be suggestive of the 100-point scales used by some rating systems, but I didn’t want to imply a precision that didn’t exist by assigning 8.6 to one wine and 8.4 to another. Hence, there’s a big cluster between 7.5 and 9, with 8 and 8.5 getting most of the action. These represent wines that are enjoyable to drink but that don’t quite hit the “exceptional” category.
Part of the reason for this clustering, I’m sure, is that the wines we focus on most (affordable reds) are often designed to be decent wines approachable by a wide range of wine drinkers.
I’m looking at ways to improve this, or at least explain it better. Thanks for the feedback, Jim.
Wow! I love blends and that’s some pretty good schnide for a cheap as hell Cab-Shiraz!
Crykie!
This is my go to unless i am buying expensive for a special occassion. not as good as a full cabernet, and not fruity enough to where I dont’ like it. (I don’t like overly fruity wine).
It’s not too fruity and only $2.99 a bottle at my local store. Give it a shot.
this wine is a gallo product and what i hear is it may be discontinued , it is really a 2 buck chuck which is box wine in a bottle. I sell it here 2/$5
I’m hooked on this wine right now. I should have stock in the company.