Two Hands Deer in the Headlights 2005, Barossa Valley
Team agrees with Parker. This 2005 Shiraz “Deer in the Headlights” offers indeed ‘fragrant perfume of cedar, leather, lavender, pepper, and blueberry compote’. Team also thinks the wine is still vibrant with ripe, round, deep, velvety textured with hints of chocolate emerging on the mid-palate, with strong hints of white peppers and licorice by now with the bottle age. The finish is long and fruit-filled. Tannins and soft and fine by now.
Fellow buyer Alick Robertson in Vivino also writes about this wine with truthiness as well, ‘Fxxk me wow. Unreal! Was given this bottle and cracked it open thinking nothing of it and its one of those wines that has forced it way on to my best ever list. Aussie as well. I probably don’t drink enough mature oz wines to be fair but this is world class whatever. Dark. Elegant. Liquorice. Black fruit sweet cake. Cedar. Light powerful but delicate. And on and on and on and on!’
The intriguingly named ‘Deer in Headlights’ Shiraz’, Team surmises, flows from its idiomatic expression. So 'Deers in Headlights' talks about a state when one is being frightened or surprised that one cannot move or think. So you can say, ‘each time they asked him a question he was like a deer caught in the headlights.’ So in tasting, whenever you tasted some special wines, you look at each other(your friends, your loved ones) and ‘stunned like Deer in Headlights’. One Dr. Ronald Sanders, in his explanation of Hebrews1: 13-14, shares his transcending experience about sparing his live in a car accident in 1998(In his book, For the Reflecting of The Saints) and his face to face contact with a ‘deer in headlights’, who, he thinks, is God’s minister help him out! So with good wines like Deer in Headlights 2005, wondrous things happen.
The ‘two hands’ are Richard Mintz and Michael Twelftree who formed the company in 1999 with the clear objective of making the best possible shiraz based wines from prized shiraz producing regions within Australia. From the beginning the wines were very well received, at home and abroad with a healthy stream of reviews, culminating in 2004 with Robert M. Parker pronouncing Two Hands as “the finest negociant operation south of the equator”. The heart of the operation is based in the Barossa Valley; the cellar door and winery are located in the sub district of Marananga. Aged quality Australians are not easy to get now. RP92, ST91, JR91, 5-star winery James Halliday.
