I bought this wine as it was 2 for £8 at Sainsbury’s. Anyone looking at the bottle would be forgiven in thinking it is a more exclusive variant of the Hardy’s Stamp. Seeing as I love the Stamp I had high hopes for this wine.

A little background:

The Hardys VR Shiraz is rich purple in colour, displaying typical shiraz aromas of raspberry, plums and cherries. These characteristic are reflected on the palate where the wine exhibits soft spiciness with raspberries, cherries, plums finishing with persistent supple tannins. This wine has been crafted to drink as a young wine.

It is indeed a rich purple colour and it does smell very nice. I’m not sure why but it just didn’t seem quite as smooth as the Stamp, and in actual face it tasted a little inferior. Don’t get ba wrong, it is not bad for £4, but if I had the choice I would go for the Stamp or the McGuigan Estate Shiraz.

This is a difficult one to rate. It is a fairly average wine, certainly not worth paying full price for, but it is quite often on offer in the major stores and so is a safe bet if you’re looking for a cheap wine and are unsure what to go for.