Best Australian red wines under $35
Classic varieties, experimental drops, and a $22 wine that remains this wine critic’s best value pick after more than 30 years. Let Nick Ryan help you drink great wine without breaking the budget. | FULL LIST
Nearly 30 years ago, a young bottleshop attendant was asked what he thought was the best value red in Australia. Now, he poses that very same question in the refreshed Drinks Issue of The Weekend Australian Magazine.
“I’ve been calling [the Lake Breeze ‘Bernoota’ Shiraz Cabernet] the best value red in the country since my twenties,” says Ryan of the 94-point wine. “There’s a plushness, a fullness, a generosity to this wine without it ever feeling forced... It just consistently delivers.”
The 2021 vintage of the Lake Breeze ‘Bernoota’ – which retails at only $22 (“I don’t know how they do it” – sits in the Red Wines under $35 category - alongside classic varieties like shiraz and grenache, as well as experimental varieties, including a “seriously structured” nebbiolo rosé.
Others among Ryan’s favourite affordable red wines are an underrated shiraz that “won’t be hidden for long”.
“The diversity of Australian wine and the quality of Australian wine has never been better than it is at the moment,” says Ryan. “The quality of wines across so many different styles is what’s really enviable. We’re making great wines, from classic styles to the much more new wave and contemporary styles that you might find in inner-city wine bars.”
While there are tough times coming for Australia’s wine sector, Ryan is hopeful there are exciting and prosperous times ahead for the future of the country’s wine regions.
“The goal is not just getting Australian wine on the shelves but flying off them,” he says. “We just have to be serious about how we get there.”
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Best red wines over $35
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