Favour The Bold Robust red wines.

There’s a rich vein of intense, complex and full-flavoured red wines just waiting to be tapped, writes Toni Paterson.

Australia is deservedly renowned for full-flavoured red wines. Our abundant sunshine and warmth mean the grapes achieve excellent ripeness, producing full-fruited red wines with plentiful ripe tannins. However, some drinkers shy away from these styles, fearing they are too assertive and too potent, resulting in an unwanted shadow the morning after.

It is true that some wines in the category are over-oaked, too alcoholic and unnecessarily tannic. But there are also many supple, textural, complex wines that can be slowly savoured.

Shiraz and cabernet sauvignon are the varieties most commonly used in Australia when making deeply coloured, full-flavoured wines. The palate weight of the wines made from these varieties ranges from medium to full.

The best examples have excellent colour density, mid-palate concentration,

an intricate tannin frame, integrated acidity, discreet oak and, most importantly, balance and length.

A wine with these proportions generally has the capacity for ageing. Keeping a newly released red wine for even a couple of years will do wonders for its harmony and complexity – stash a few bottles in the coolest part of your home and try to forget about them.

Full-flavoured, structural reds mellow with age: acidity integrates, tannins soften, the oak fades and the flavours become more interesting and complex. Fruit intensity decreases slightly, and savoury elements grow. Always decant an older wine about an hour prior to serving to unleash the aromatics and allow the palate to expand.

Although I can’t prove it, I personally find that moderate consumption of older red wine leaves less of an unwanted legacy the morning after compared with the equivalent younger wine.