According to Dan Philips, the Suxx Shiraz was ?”made to be big, bad, bold, and over the top, designed to offend and indulge and arouse.” Although the label states the wine has 15.9% alcohol, Philips says it may actually be 16.5-17%. The 2006 Suxx Shiraz was aged for 14 months in new French and American oak barriques, and hogsheads of various conditions. Purple-colored, it offers an expressive bouquet of espresso, mocha, licorice, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. Full-bodied, big, fat, and voluptuous in the mouth, all components including the alcohol are well-integrated. Ripe and sweet with a blanket of soft tannins, the wine will evolve for 2-3 years but can be enjoyed now and over the next 10 years. R Wines is a new company founded by importer and marketing genius, Dan Philips, along with co-owner, renowned winemaker, Chris Ringland. Winemakers for R Wines are Chris Ringland, Lisa Wetherell, Andrew Hercock, and John Hughes. It encompasses four familiar labels, Marquis Philips, 3 Rings, Roogle, and Bitch, along with 13 others created especially for R Wines. Needless to say, the packaging of these wines is amazingly creative but, more importantly, what is in the bottle consistently over-delivers from low-end to high-end. The R series features Cabernet Sauvignon from the Barossa and a Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon from McLaren Vale. The labels portray different takes on the letter “R”. Consumers owe it to themselves to read the witty back labels. The Marquis Philips wines have established a six year track record of delivering a big bang for the buck. The wines are now made by a team put together by Dan Philips and Chris Ringland with absolutely no change in quality. Starting with the 2006 vintage, however, all of the fruit is sourced from McLaren Vale. The other change of note is that Merlot has been dropped from the program, primarily because of the difficulty of finding Merlot good enough to merit the M-P label.Importer: Dan Philips, The Grateful Palate, Oxnard, CA; tel. (805) 278-9095