BEST SHIRAZ

Claymore Wines Dark Side of the Moon Clare Valley Shiraz 2020 ($30-$35) ★★★★★

This scary-good shiraz reminds me of my mate Vicky. Her nickname is “the Queen of Darkness”. She has hair as black as a serpent’s pupil, the bluntest fringe in the known universe and a mood as mysterious as whatever the O stands for on the label. She’s a lone wolf, endlessly hunting down stunning shiraz like this. Sourced from Claymore’s dry-farmed (non-irrigated), Clare Valley vineyards, this cocoacrammed, liquorice-laden, blackcurrantboosted example is impressively structured, with fine-grained, gorgeously grippy tannins and a smoky graphite core. Superb. powerhousewine.co.nz

Grant Burge 5th Generation Barossa Shiraz 2019 ($19-$24) ★★★★★ Deep purple and rolling in raspberry and peppered blackberry aromas, subtle vanilla and elongated espresso layers. Bold, buxom and edged with finegrained tannins and hints of sweetness and spice from a long, sleepy maturation in oak barrels. It’s just seamless and succulent and seriously satisfying.

glengarrywines.co.nz

The Vegan Project South Australia Shiraz 2018 ($15) ★★★★★

If you’re a shiraz fan but 15 bucks is about your limit, then this spicy and nicey little number is the business. It’s nice that it’s vegan, but what I really like about it, is that it’s not super sweet and jammy and flabby like a lot of cheaper shiraz can be. It smells like dark berries and baking spices laced with soft pepper and cocoa, and all that good stuff then osmoses across to the palate when you sip. So it’s a stylish, classy wine that’s very well priced. glengarrywines.co.nz