d’Arenberg McLaren Vale “The Dead Arm” Shiraz 2007 $60
Grab a magnifying glass and you can read a lovely back-label treatise on the fungus “eutypa lata” and how it reduces an arm of the vine to dead wood (the dead arm) while the other side of the vine bears small crops of grapes of “amazing intensity”. You can read on and learn all the winemaking details. Better still, you can then twist the cap off and savour this extraordinary red, with some understanding of its origins and the traditions behind its making. It’s dense, deep, vibrant and layered with ripe fruit and tannin – but at the same time it’s savoury, earthy and satisfying.

Mount Majura Canberra District

• Riesling 2009 $21
• Chardonnay 2009 $21
• Pinot Gris 2010 $23

There’s great value here from winemaker Frank van de Loo at Mount Majura. The wines are all estate-grown and made. Riesling 2009 looks young, taut and fresh at 18 months, a bone-dry aperitif riesling with a zesty, lemony dryness. The chardonnay shows generous nectarin- and-melon varietal flavours backed by a rich, fine texture derived from barrel fermentation and maturation. It’s taut, fresh and structured to age well in the medium term. The pinot gris flaunts its youth with a high-toned, musk-edged aroma – but, under that, the crisper pear like varietal character lurks, ready to take over after a few months bottle age.

Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling 2010 $30
Henschke Julius Eden Valley Riesling 2010 $31
The variable and early 2010 vintage seems to be throwing out some terrific rieslings like this contrasting pair from Watervale, Southern Clare, and the Eden Valley, a little to the south of Clare, but also on the Mount Lofty Ranges. The green-tinted Mount Horrocks, made by Stephanie Toole, offers shimmering, lime-like varietal flavour and matching, bracing acidity. It’s an exciting riesling, good as an aperitif now but probably destined for a long life in the cellar. Henschke’s wine leans more to riesling’s floral side, with a slightly rounder, softer palate than the Clare wine. But it’s a wine of great depth and with proven cellaring potential.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2008 $105
Margaret River, Western Australia
What a contrast on the tasting bench – an ink-black, 14.9 per cent alcohol $75 Coonawarra cabernet and Cullen’s limpid, 12.5 per cent alcohol $105 cabernet merlot blend. I’ve no objection to the blockbuster. But, oh my, how can anything beat Cullen’s subtle elegance? Despite the low alcohol, it’s perfectly ripe, with not a trace of the leafiness cabernet sometimes has. Vanya Cullen attributes the ripeness at low alcohol level to structural changes in the soil resulting from biodynamic management – and fastidious berry selection. This is a beautiful wine with the depth and structure to age gracefully for decades.

Champagne Lanson Gold Label Brut Vintage 1998 $68–$85
Champagne, France
In the right conditions, Champagne ages gracefully for many decades – protected by low cellaring temperatures, high acidity, yeast lees and dissolved carbon dioxide. Throw in the region’s unique, beautiful fruit flavours and you get the incomparably mature but fresh delicacy seen in this 12-year-old Lanson. The high acidity’s still there freshening up the deliciously honeyed, mature fruit flavours. In the context of Champagne it’s not of the first order – but it’s knocking on the door, and certainly trumps any Australian bubbly. Imported by Woolworths for Dan Murphy.

Kilikanoon Mort’s Block Riesling 2009 $20–$32
Watervale, southern Clare Valley, South Australia
It’s sold out at cellar door, but we bought our bottle at Candamber, Civic, en route to Flavours of India restaurant. What a perfect wine it was for the hot and spicy food. That’s generically true of dry and semi dry riesling, thanks to its pure fruit flavour and crisp acidity. But Kilikanoon went the extra yard, offering really intense, delicious varietal flavour and a pleasing textural richness that comes to good riesling after a year or two in bottle. Should drink beautifully for a decade at least.

Oakridge “The Parish” Shiraz 2008 $23–$33
Yarra Valley, Victoria
In a recent masked tasting this tasty, supple shiraz rated a tad behind Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Vineyard Shiraz 2008 (Hawkes Bay, New Zealand), but a length ahead of Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba Shiraz 2008. They were three very good, graceful cool-climate styles. The Oakridge wine focuses on fresh, pure, bright berry flavours, layered with soft, supple tannins. Its softness and delicious, fruity flavours provide good drinking now, but it’ll probably drink well for three or four years. Oakridge makes it for the Coles’ Vintage Cellars chain.

Ant Moore Pinot Noir 2008 $29.95
Central Otago, New Zealand
Ant Moore’s pinot comes without the fancy price tag of many of its Central Otago peers. While the colour’s mid-to-pale, it weighs in at a solid 14.2% alcohol and presents a solid, earthy, savoury face of pinot. The aroma and palate reveal full fruit ripeness, without the floral and musk notes we see in many local versions – it’s more vinous, with a touch of earthy “beetroot” and a savoury note from the oak. The palate’s full and finely textured with savoury pinot flavours and an assertive, tannic bite.

d’Arenberg “The Custodian” Grenache 2007 $19.95
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Grenache is the backbone of France’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation and a star of d’Arenberg’s wonderful red line up – in tandem with shiraz in the classic “d’Arry’s Blend”.  In “The Custodian”, though, grenache stands on its own. It’s earthy, rich and sweet fruited with a savoury dryness that goes well with food – a particularly good example that avoids the tendency to confection-like flavours that can be a turn off. In the concentrated 2007 vintage the savoury tannins feature more than usual, but as they’re backed by loads of fruit sweet, it looks to an age-worthy vintage.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Battle of Bosworth McLaren Vale Preservative-Free Shiraz 2010 $18–20
Was it wine or grape juice we wondered as the dense, purple liquid splashed into the glass? Heady enough, after a few sips, to be wine, for sure, and a plush, pure, fruity one at that. A leg in each world we decided ¬– too fruity to be like real red but too alcoholic to be juice; perhaps something to quaff with lunch. It’s good news, too, for people sensitive or allergic to sulphur dioxide – the preservative used in wine since Roman times. Without it wines, succumb very quickly, often losing their vitality within months.  This one’s as vibrant as they come, though almost certainly it needs to be consumed early.

Gilberts Mount Barker Riesling 2009 $16–$18
Best’s Great Western Riesling 2010 $20–$22
Meet two contrasting rieslings from either side of the continent – one from Mount Barker, a little north of Albany in southern Western Australia, the other from Great Western, in south-western Victoria. While technically dry, with less than half a gram per litre of residual sugar, Gilberts tastes slightly sweet because it’s so deliciously fruity. Bev Gilbert says this makes it a winner at cellar door. It’s a style that goes particularly well with spicy food. Best’s, a year younger and just 11.5 per cent alcohol, presents riesling’s more steely-dry face. It’s a wonderful aperitif and just right to cut through slightly oily food like fish.

Xanadu Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $35
Best’s Great Western Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $25
Following the east-west theme, here’s a couple of exciting cabernets from Margaret River, Western Australia, and Great Western, Victoria. Xanadu shows the class and elegance we’ve come to expect from wines in the Rathbone family group (Yering Station, Mount Langi Ghiran and Parker Coonawarra Estate). It’s classic Margaret River with its complex, high-toned, cigar-box aroma and flavours, built from ripe fruit and beautifully integrated oak, and firm but elegant structure. Great Western shows a chunkier side of cabernet, with ripe blackcurrant varietal flavour and dense, chewy, very firm tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Clonakilla Canberra District Shiraz Viognier 2009 $85–$100
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
Today we review two of the best arguments for growing shiraz around Canberra – two sensational Clonakilla reds from the outstanding 2009 vintage. The flagship, made from shiraz and viognier grown on Clonakilla’s original vines and the adjacent T and L vineyard, shows the brooding but silky, plush magic of shiraz co-fermented with viognier. It’s denser and more concentrated than the O’Riada, with a fine, more tannic bite. Our bottle revealed new levels of flavour every day, for five days – suggesting a long cellar life. Recommended drinking from 2015.

Clonakilla Canberra District O’Riada Shiraz 2009 $45
Murrumbateman, NSW, and Hall, ACT
Winemaker Tim Kirk sources fruit for O’Riada (a shiraz-viognier blend) from four vineyards: Phil Williams’ at Hall, and Long Rail Gully, Ravensworth and Quarry Hill at Murrumbateman. The blend also contains estate-grown material from barrels that don’t make the cut for the flagship blend. O’Riada’s slightly leaner than the flagship and the tannins are less apparent. It shows a pleasing hint of stalkiness from the use of whole bunches in the ferment. But this is just seasoning in an aromatic, juicy, silk-smooth, medium-bodied wine of great complexity.  Though lovely now, it’s another long-term keeper.

Best’s Bin 1 Great Western Shiraz 2009 $25
Grampians, Victoria
Moving south to Great Western Victoria, we find another distinctive expression of cool-climate shiraz. We shift from Canberra’s berry, spice and savouriness to something plumper, with distinct black-pepper notes – nicely melded with vanillin oak flavours. Low yields in this warm, dry vintage also account for the unusually rich, rich, sweet fruit flavours. The wine was made by Adam Wadewitz using fruit from Best’s and other vineyards in the Great Western district. It’s ready to drink and should evolve well for about ten years.

Jones Road Pinot Gris 2009 $25
Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Rob Frewer reports a big, healthy canopy on his pinot gris vines in 2009 limited the sunburn that affected many other vines in the district. Even so, the wine weighs a hefty 14 per cent alcohol, although there’s sufficient fruit flavour and texture to keep this in the background. The flavours are full, ripe and spicy and there’s a rich texture derived partly from time in old oak and partly from the natural grape tannins. It finishes slightly sweet but fresh and with a farewell tannic bite.

Kerrigan + Berry Riesling 2010 $28
Mount Barker, Great Southern, Western Australia
Michael Kerrigan and Gavin Berry made this from the cool, south-facing Langton Vineyard at Mount Barker, in Western Australia’s Great Southern region. The cool site shows in the lemony varietal aroma and tight acid structure of the wine; and the vine age (1970s) will be partly responsible for the great depth and length of fruit flavour. This is a delightful, unevolved wine that works well now as a bracing aperitif and should evolve over time, taking on honey and toasty flavours and developing a richer texture.

Cardinham Estate Shiraz 2008 $20
Clare Valley, South Australia
The Cardinham vineyard, founded by Fred Dinham in1981, carries on today, considerably expanded, with a new, 500-tonne capacity winery and in the hands of Dinham’s grandchildren – Shane Smith as boss, and Scott Smith making the wine, with help from Brett Stevens. Cardinham offer tremendous value as seen in this pure, appealing shiraz. It’s bright and vibrant – the varietal flavour at the ripe, black cherry end of the spectrum, with well-judged oak adding palate weight and complexity.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Helm Canberra District Half Dry Riesling 2010 $20
Here’s the full bottle on Ken Helm’s half-dry riesling – it ain’t ‘alf bad. Inspired by a time-proven German winemaking trick, Helm knocked the yeasts on their heads before they’d gobbled up all the natural grape sugar – arresting the wine at a moderate 10.5 per cent alcohol, and leaving a subtle, sweet kiss of residual sugar. It’s a delicious combination in riesling – tonnes of bright, zesty fruit flavour, in this instance with a distinctly apple-like aftertaste; a little burst of fruity sweetness on the mid palate; and high natural acidity tying it all together and giving a sharp, fresh, dry tang to the finish.

Clonakilla Canberra District

• Viognier Nouveau 2010 $25
• Viognier 2009 $45

With these wines Clonakilla’s Tim Kirk presents two faces of the Rhone Valley’s distinctive white variety, viognier. It tends to make juicy, plump, viscous wines dripping with apricot-like flavours and tending to fatten quickly with age. Kirk’s Nouveau, cool-fermented in stainless steel tanks, presents pure, fresh-from-the vine, vibrant fruit flavour, with a tangy acidity and the first signs grip and texture peeping through. The second wine, barrel fermented and from the warm 2009 vintage, presents viognier’s more refined face, albeit with buckets of ‘apricot’ varietal flavour woven with barrel-derived characters, and a thick, velvety texture.

Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2008 $38
Martin and Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith’s red sets the pace for Adelaide Hills shiraz – the altitude, and therefore cooler climate, setting its style apart even from those of the neighbouring Eden Valley, to the north. It’s typically fine boned and elegant and based on lively, ripe-berry flavours – more akin to what we make in Canberra than the burly styles made just down the hill from it. But in the hot 2008 vintage its style lurches towards the bigger end of the spectrum. The bright berry flavours are still there, but it’s fuller bodied with more assertive tannins.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon 2006 $14–$22
Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Surprisingly for such a northerly, warm region, the lower Hunter produces delicate, low-alcohol semillon of great flavour, individuality and longevity. If the idiosyncratic style is to your taste (tart and lemony when young; toasty and honeyed with great age), then top-notch Hunter semillon, like Elizabeth, can be the inexpensive corner stone of a cellar. At four years, the just-released Elizabeth (10.5 per cent alcohol) is lemony and bone-dry, with distinctive lemongrass-like varietal flavour and the first signs of toasty bottle age. It has years of cellaring ahead of it, too.

Helm Canberra District Premium Riesling 2010 $45
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
Ken Helm’s Premium Riesling won a silver medal in this year’s Winewise Awards. But I’d be surprised if it doesn’t win gold in future. Typically, it begins life pretty tart and austere, but over time the fruity intensity and palate weight build. It’s on the lean side anyway, as it’s just 11 per cent alcohol – and tastes just ripe, with a lemony, herbal edge and bone-dry finish, with varietal flavours beginning to push through. The fruit comes from Helm’s Murrumbateman neighbour, Al Lustenberger.

Clonakilla Canberra District Riesling $25–$30
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
Clonakilla’s thirty-fifth riesling provides quite a contrast to Helm’s. It’s riper (12.5 per cent alcohol versus 11 per cent), pushing the aroma more to the floral end of the riesling spectrum and filling the palate with more upfront fruit flavour. However, the palate’s still delicate and restrained – deliciously varietal and fine textured, with a vibrant, brisk acidity. Winemaker Tim Kirk says he’s entering it in the regional show in September, his first entry in over ten years. We’re backing it for a decent medal.

Mount Avoca Reserve Shiraz 2007 $59
Pyrenees, Victoria
What’s an ugly cork like you doing in a beautiful wine like this? The ProCork – a natural cork with a wrinkled, protective plastic membrane on each end – has the aesthetic appeal of a burst blister. And in our sample bottle the wine had already travelled up the cork beyond the protective membrane. So what’s the point of it? The wine, though, is exciting. It’s a blend of the first crop from new ‘Bests’ clone shiraz vines with material from the vineyards original old vineyard. It’s taut, elegant and savoury with a delicious core of sweet, varietal fruit. Our bottle drank beautifully for five days after opening, suggesting a long cellar life should the cork hold. Only 130 cases produced.

Cofield Max’s Footstep Moscato 2010 $13
Rutherglen, Victoria
The promiscuous muscat grape has its genes in clones of just about every other variety, injecting its grapey, musky flavour wherever it shows up. Here it flaunts its naked, sweet grapiness unadorned. Damien Cofield used the same muscat a-petit-grain rouge that goes into Rutherglen’s famed fortified muscats. But here it’s pink, light (six per cent alcohol), musky and flagrantly, fragrantly fruity, with zesty, fresh effervescence – a frivolous wine for life’s fruity moments.

Clonakilla Shiraz 2009 $24–$30
Hilltops, New South Wales
Tim Kirk’s shiraz viognier did more than any other wine to build Canberra’s reputation. But the larger-volume, lower-priced Clonakilla Hilltops shiraz brings home the Kirk family’s bacon. The 2009’s sourced from three vineyards near Young and shows Tim’s magic touch. Its pure, ripe-berry, spice and musk aroma gets the juices flowing. The palate delivers similar pure varietal flavour and its woven with gentle, fine tannins. I rate this the best yet of this wine and recommend it for drinking now or cellaring for up to a decade.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Alinga Four Winds Vineyard Canberra District Sangiovese 2009 $19
This is one of the juiciest, loveliest Australian Sangiovese’s I’ve tasted. Jaime Lunney made it from the Yarra Yering clone of the variety, grown on her family’s Murrumbateman vineyard. It’s medium coloured and bodied and finishes with sangiovese’s typical firm, fine, savoury tannins. But it differs from most of the local versions in its buoyant, lively, earthy perfume – a characteristic that carries over to the delicious, drink-me-now palate. I know little of this clone. But they say clonal selection is vital with sangiovese. Whatever it is, there’s something very good going on here.

Brokenwood

• Beechworth Pinot Gris 2010 $25
• Hunter Valley ILR Reserve Semillon 2005 $32–$35

Brokenwood’s is a rich, drink-now version of pinot gris – grown in Beechworth Victoria and made in the Hunter Valley. It’s crisp and fresh, with pear-like varietal flavour, rich but fine mid-palate texture and a little grippiness in the finish – a signature of the variety. The ILR Reserve Semillon is restrained, fine expression of this classic Hunter style. How such a hot region produces such fine-boned whites, I don’t know. But at five years it’s still zingy, lemon fresh with just the first subtle notes of ageing – a little toastiness in the aroma and flavour and a little richness in the texture.

Grant Burge Barossa Valley

• Filsell Shiraz 2008 $36–$40
• Meshach Shiraz 2005 $145

Grant Burge owns substantial areas of vines towards the cooler southern end of the Barossa Valley in the vicinity of Williamstown. The Filsell vineyard, with vines planted in the early 1920s, is the pick of Burge’s holdings and provided the fruit for both Filsell and the company’s flagship, Meshach. Filsell shows the power and body of the hot vintage, with generous, deep, chocolaty fruit flavours ¬– coated lavishly with the Barossa’s tender, soft tannins. Despite it size and intensity, Meshach, looking young at five years, is beautifully proportioned, seductive and silky textured. It’s bound to become even finer over time, ultimately emerging as a powerful but elegant expression of the Barossa style.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Alinga Four Winds Vineyard Canberra District Riesling 2010 $17
Murrumbateman, New South Wales
Alinga’s very much a family affair, based at the Four Winds Vineyard, Murrumbateman. Graeme and Suzanne Lunney planted the first vines in 1998 and their children, Tom, Sarah and Jaime later joined the business. Following Tom’s death  early this year, Sarah’s husband John Collingwood took over the vineyard management. Alinga 2010 riesling is an appealing, gentle style – delightfully aromatic, with a delicate, juicy, soft palate and a good burst of acid giving backbone and crispness to the dry finish. It’ll probably be at its best over the next two or three years.

Grosset Polish Hill River Riesling 2010 $47
Clare Valley, South Australia
Jeffrey Grosset doesn’t enter wine shows. Indeed, were he to show his young rieslings, they’d likely be overlooked for more forward, juicy drops like the lovely Alinga above.  But behind the shy aroma of this 2010, from Clare’s cool Polish Hill River sub-region, lies an intense, citrusy palate of rare dimension, building with each sip and finishing very long and bone dry. It’s like an essence of riesling. And we know from past experience that the aroma and palate will build in complexity and interest with bottle age.

Cofield Vermentino 2010 $20
King Valley, Victoria
Winemaker Damien Cofield writes that he discovered this Italian variety in French Corsica, “It was a bit like sav blanc but with more palate weight and viscosity, which made it go beautifully with the seafood we were eating”. Back in Rutherglen this year he trucked a small parcel in from the King Valley, with pleasing results – in an Italian way: it’s wine-like rather than overtly fruity, with a rich texture, pear-like aftertaste and dry, savoury finish.

TarraWarra K-Block Merlot 2008 $35
Yarra Valley, Victoria
In “Sideways” Miles loathed merr-low – gagging, perhaps, on the thought of sweet, mawkish red wine – a perception shared for a time in Australia.  But one sip of TarraWarra dispels the mawkish merlot myth – as it sucks the water from your eyes. It’s made from an Italian clone with tiny berries, each bearing a truckload of tannin, deep purple colour and a core of delicious fruit flavour, reminiscent of black olives. It’s a powerful and distinctive wine needing time in the cellar or high-protein food to tame the tannins.

Walnut Tree Pinot Noir 2008 $32
Marlborough, New Zealand
This impressive pinot comes from Clyde and Nigel Sowman’s Walnut Block vineyard in Marlborough’s Wairau Valley. The aroma and flavour reveal both the fruity and savoury characters of pinot, with deep, ripe flavours, woven in with persistent, fine tannins and an acidity that accentuates the fruit and adds to the structure. The usual ingredients accounts for its success: cool climate, low yields, gentle winemaking and maturation in high quality, sympathetic oak.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 $19–$34
Coonawarra, South Australia
The release of the new-vintage Black Label coincides with today’s feature on cellaring. That’s appropriate because it’s hard to think of an Australian cellaring red with such a reliable cellaring history. At a tasting of all the Wynns cabernets in 2004, almost every wine, stretching back to the original 1954 vintage, still drank well. The 2008 is cast in the same mould, albeit more solid than recent vintages. It’s densely coloured, intensely varietal, with a touch of Coonawarra “mint”, and firmly structured. The big retailers occasionally slaughter the price, hence the wide price range.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Brand’s Laira Coonawarra
Stentiford’s Old Vine Shiraz 2006 $67–$75
We’ll kick off today’s Coonawarra theme with this beautiful, elegant shiraz sourced from some of the region’s oldest vines. When John Riddoch opened Coonawarra’s first winery in 1896, retired sea captain Stentiford, sold Riddoch shiraz grapes from his Laira vineyard, named after his old ship, and probably planted in 1893. The vineyard now belongs to McWilliams (and before that Eric Brand and family) and in good years produces up to 500 dozen bottles. In the outstanding 2006 vintage winemaker Peter Weinberg captures the deep, sweet elegant flavours produced by the old vines, woven with taut tannins and sympathetic, spicy oak.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate $13–$19

• Riesling 2010
• Chardonnay 2010
  

Riesling once occupied plum terra rossa soil in Wynn’s Coonawarra vineyards but it’s been paired back now, in favour of cabernet, leaving a respectable 70-hectares, much of it off the terra rossa. Because 2010 was a warm vintage, the new release is slightly fuller and softer than the 2009. But it’s still in the lemony, crisp, bone-dry style. While about 50 per cent of the chardonnay blend is still barrel fermented and matured, in older oak, modern Wynns simply screams with vibrant, melon-like varietal flavour. The oak treatment simply adds to the texture and complexity without inserting overt woody flavours.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2009  $10–$22
The big retailers regularly use strong brands, like Wynns, to drive trade, hence the wide variation in retail price. Wynns Shiraz offers good value at $22, but if Dan Murphy and 1st Choice (Woolworths and Coles respectively) mete out the same treatment to the 2009 vintage they did to the 2008, then join the rush when the price hits $10. It’ll drive other retailers, and Wynns crazy. But don’t miss out. The 2009 stands out for its pure, intense, spicy varietal flavour and plush, but fine, velvety texture. Wines of this pedigree are rare at the price. Buy up.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010

Crittenden Estate Los Hermanos Tributo a Galicia 2009 $27–$30
Symphonia Vineyard King Valley, Victoria
In early 2009 Australian growers learned that their prized plantings of the Spanish white, albarino, were, in fact, traminer, also known as savagnin blanc. There’d been a gigantic stuff up in Spain decades back and, as a result, the CSIRO imported a woolly pup. Crittenden took the shock graciously, pushing ahead with savagnin and renaming the wine in honour of albarino’s home, Galicia. The partially barrel-fermented wine offers delicious, rich, peachy flavours and a bone-dry, fresh, savoury finish.

Coldstream Hills Chardonnay 2009 $23–$29
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Coldstream Hills has the intensity of fruit flavour and searing acid backbone to match its quite assertive barrel-ferment character. This declares itself in the aroma with a distinctive bacon-rind character hovering over the fruit. The palate springs to life with juicy flavours reminiscent of nectarine spiked with lemon and grapefruit – sweet but also lively and refreshingly acidic at the same time. The barrel-ferment element adorns the lively fruit flavours and adds richness to the texture. Coldstream is a distinguished member of Foster’s recently renamed Treasury Wine Estates.

Crittenden Estate Los Hermanos Tempranillo 2009 $27–$30
Patterson Lakes and King Valley, Victoria
This is an appealing, pure expression of Spain’s tempranillo grape, unburdened by obvious oak – but benefiting from ten months maturation in old barrels. Aromas and flavours of ripe summer berries peek through a pervasive savouriness and spiciness, setting it apart from other red varieties. And on the palate, fresh acidity boosts the fruit flavour, while firm, drying tannins give a farewell tweak. Clearly tempranillo adapts well to Australian conditions – and winemaker Rollo Crittenden’s all over it.

Dutschke Cab Mac Shiraz 2010 $20
Lyndoch, Barossa Valley, South Australia
In the early and mid eighties a boom in Beaujolais imports, prompted development of many Australian lookalikes, notably the late Stephen Hickinbotham’s Cab Mac – a name play on the French “maceration carbonique” winemaking technique. In this wine, Wayne Dutschke applies the technique (see www.dutschkewines.com for details) to shiraz from old Barossa vines with mouth-watering results. The aroma’s pure, ripe and fragrant and the palate opulent, juicy, slurpy and soft. Dutschke played a part in the original Cab Mac and salutes it by resurrecting the original label.

Majella The Musician Cabernet Shiraz 2009 $17
Coonawarra, South Australia
There’s great excitement in Australian regional wine specialties – glimpsed in today’s diverse selections. Majella’s contribution couldn’t be anything but Coonawarra in its high-toned aroma, sweet, ripe berry flavours and elegant structure. Cabernet, the area’s signature variety, makes up 60 per cent of the blend. It leads the aroma and accounts for the tight structure; and shiraz gently fleshes out the mid palate. It remains one of the best value reds in Australia. It’s sourced entirely from Majella Vineyard, owned by brothers Brian “Prof” Lynn and Anthony Lynn, and the wine’s made on site by Bruce Gregory.

Houghton Gladstones Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 $70
Margaret River, Western Australia
This is about as good as cabernet gets. I’d happily slip it in a masked tasting of top-end Bordeaux reds – including the likes of $1,300-a-bottle Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2005 – and expect an expert panel to see them as peers. At five years’ age, Gladstones, named for visionary viticulturist, Dr John Gladstones, still has the bright crimson colour of youth. It has profoundly, deep, sweet varietal fruit flavour beautifully integrated with superb oak – and the fine, firm structure of great cabernet. It should age well for decades and, from a global perspective, delivers huge value.

Copyright © Chris Shanahan 2010