Top 100 Wines: Total Luxuries
Top 100 Wines: Total Luxuries
Top List
Don't miss out on the headlines from Top List. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It's top shelf time, and while we often go immediately for the most famous names, here are some fantastic special occasion dining and wow-moment gifts you must try.
Belle Terroir 2012 “Sorciere Sauvage" Shiraz
An exciting new direction for Barossa veteran Trevor Jones. This is an opulent and decadent expression of Barossa shiraz but it never goes over the top. It offers up dark chocolate, black plums, Dutch licorice and woody spices in abundance and weaves them through a supple and fine textured palate that tapers beautifully.
★★★★
Barossa Valley
Food: Braised beef cheeks
$60
Teusner 2012 Albert Shiraz
A great vintage has done extra wonders for this perennially excellent stylist with its delightful aromas of dark fruits and rich spice that swirls at the front of the senses while background notes of fragrant kitchen garden herbs and deft oak handling make for a modern, balanced, joyful and respectful Barossa shiraz worthy of any top shelf.
★★★★1/2
Barossa Valley
Food: Lamb shoulder, ratatouille
$60
Penny’s Hill 2012 Footprint Shiraz
From just a 0.8ha block on the eastern foothills of the region, and carrying a McLaren Vales Scarce Earth selection tag, this is an outrageously vibrant colour in the glass, its oak evident at the moment but huge swathes of fruit are already soaking it up, giving you an idea of the balance and power of the wine, poised for a long future.
★★★★★
McLaren Vale
Food: Veal shin, tomato braise
$65
Wirra Wirra The Absconder 2012 Grenache
Another persuasive witness prosecuting the case for McLaren Vale being Australia’s greatest grenache region. This is plush, juicy, sublimely serious grenache that ripples with bright raspberry fruit and crucially exhibits the firm, almost granitic palate structure that separates great grenache from the also-rans. A cracker.
★★★★1/2
McLaren Vale
Food: Goat curry
$70
Joseph Moda 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
After being part dried on racks before hitting the winery, this amarone-style red’s vibrant colour captivates, followed by beautifully fresh and fragrant crimson-to-black fruits lifting out of a super-concentrated and tightly packed palate with fine oak tannins adding to a dark chocolatey texture. Drink it now or in 10-20 years. It’s a genuine stayer.
★★★★★
McLaren Vale
Food: Venison, richly roasted
$80
Penfolds 2011 Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz
From the Penfolds collection you could pick the St Henri, Grange, Bin 389 and impress all comers, while this more defined sub-regional shiraz defies much of the scorn of 2011, generous, warm-hearted and rich with layers of blue to crimson berries as well as warm and sweet spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper - lifting out of its oak-noted palate.
★★★★1/2
Barossa Valley
Food: Pork ribs, savoy cabbage
$80
Henschke 2012 Tappa Pass Shiraz
The Henschkes adored this vintage and it shows in this deep crimson coloured delight, redolent with blue and black berries as well as captivating herbs and cedar notes that come across as an earthy, minerally layering within the deeper intensities of the core dark fruits. This, the Hill of Grace, or Cyril Henschke are all stunners.
★★★★★
Barossa
Food: Full rack of lamb
$84
Bekkers 2012 Syrah
Just the second release of Toby and Emma Bekkers’ seductive and pure McLaren Vale syrah (shiraz) but already it sits very comfortably with the region’s best. Rigorous, almost obsessive, attention to detail in vineyard and winery results in a wine of dark, deeply defined fruit, intriguing spice-driven aromas and delicately deployed power.
★★★★★
McLaren Vale
Food: Rare rib-eye
$110
Yalumba 2006 “The Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz
An incredibly assured wine released just as it’s entering the first stages of complex, compelling and utterly delicious maturity. Ripe plums and dark berries entwine with the deeply satisfying characters like old leather and warm earth that emerge with a bit of bottle age. Plush, supple Barossa at its best.
★★★★1/2
Barossa Valley
Food: Roast rib of beef
$140
Jim Barry Wines The Armagh 2009 Shiraz
Now listed in the “Exceptional” category of the Langton’s Classification VI, this landmark red of the region hits you with wow-moment fruit, vibrant to the max and an over-the-top intensity rating, French oak adding clove-like spice while the juicy core centres around super-concentrated raspberry rich flavours, the finish seemingly lasting forever. Its history is profound and its cellar potential huge.
★★★★★
Clare Valley
Food: Roast duck with the lot
$250
Hottest 100 Christmas gadget guide
CHRISTMAS is not just a time for giving, but a time for gadgets. We've compiled the best technology from 2014 for you to wrap up for others, or yourself. Part 1: Cameras
Hottest 100 Christmas gadget guide
Christmas is not just a time for giving, but a time for gadgets. This is a compilation of the best technology from 2014 for you to wrap up for others, or yourself.