Top 100 Wines: Shiraz (part 1)
Top 100 Wines: Shiraz (part 1)
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South Australia's most popular red wine variety has never been in a better place, with the 2012 vintage across most regions producing superlative shiraz at great prices
McGuigan’s Expressions 2012 Shiraz
Delightful cherry colours in the glass and an attractive lifted nose suggests and confirms this is a shiraz-viognier blend, the wine juicingly medium bodied, bright and perky in its flavour notes of fresh crunchy cherries with a seasoning of spice from judicious oak impact. Brilliant value.
★★★★
Langhorne Creek
Food: Grilled steak, romesco sauce
$14
Wynns 2012 Shiraz
In good vintages Coonawarra shiraz can show up right alongside the region’s signature cabernet as a genuine stayer with attractive livery, here seen in its fabulous colour and definite rhubarb, gum leaf and dark spice aromas, the palate sticky with finely measured grip and mouthfeel. All round good drinking.
★★★★
Coonawarra
Food: Lamb korma
$17
Duck Duck Goose 2012 Shiraz
Wow. Super intense, ripe aromas, as if a whole vat of fruits of the forest have been squashed and dribbled into the bottle, given a sensitive touching up with a dash of vanilla-like oak influences to add some depth to the gentle extraction that leaves the wine with sticky, lip-smacking textural tannins. Opulence at a bargain price.
★★★★1/2
Barossa Valley
Food: Duck, braised, cherry sauce
$18
Robert Oatley 2012 Shiraz
This wine shot to fame last year in a quirky comparo of cheapie reds versus Grange, and the follow-up vintage is even better, upping the sophistication level with vibrant colours and a seductive berry, kitchen herb and charry layer of aromas, backed up with a most drinkable, medium-bodied shiraz style. Most positive.
★★★★1/2
McLaren Vale
Food: Sausage and white bean cassoulet
$19
Maxwells Silver Hammer 2012 Shiraz
This is an impressive display of all things McLaren Vale – deep, dark fruits hiding low down in the glass that rise gradually through a well-tempered oak layer appearing in char, anise and coffee grinds elements for a full-bodied and smartly crafted regional expression.
★★★★1/2
McLaren Vale
Food: Beef rendang
$20
Di Giorgio Lucindale 2012 Shiraz
Gorgeous lifted and light-hearted aromas – all fruits of the forest and mixed bowls of berries with a juicy, medium to full-bodied palate with a dash of spice to season it all up. Think what black pepper does to strawberries. It’s pure, drinkable, delicious and slurps down very easily beside beef braises.
★★★★1/2
Limestone Coast
Food: Beef, olives
$20
Rolf Binder 2012 Shiraz
There’s no mistaking the direction here - darker berried spectrum fruits with deeply cored aromas, and with it a fair swag of licorice and blue-black fruits as you swirl and taste. There’s a lot going on here for the price, aided by a pleasing medium-to-full-bodied expression, palate stickiness and lingering grip.
★★★★1/2
Barossa Valley
Food: Lamb and ale pot pie
$20
Tscharke 2013 Shiraz Shiraz Shiraz
A blend of three vineyards from the Barossa’s western ridge, this wine shows all you want to see from the region, dark berry/cherry flavours that take in some anise and other exotic spice layers as well as just a subtle notion of oak in support, the complete package with great fruit energy spurred by shapely finishing tannins.
★★★★
Barossa Valley
Food: Korean beef ribs
$20
Yalumba Patchwork 2012 Shiraz
Built from the ground up, literally, from a range of vineyards in cooler districts through to the valley floor, this has all the hallmarks, a bucket of squished crimson fruits, lifts and wafts of kitchen herbs, a juicy, medium-bodied palate and a lovely hint of oak in the end to wrap it all up.
★★★★
Barossa
Food: Beef and mushroom ragout
$21
Yarnbomb 2012 Shiraz
Crafted by Oliver’s Taranga winemaker Corrina Wright with the cutest of labels to get you in the mood, this wild explosion of vibrant fruit also gets things going in the glass as well. Shiraz at its exuberant best, in your face in some respects, with trademark solid-as-a-rock structure behind all that action. Fun, but also fairly serious.
★★★★
McLaren Vale
Food: Navarin of lamb
$23
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