10 GREAT WARMER-CLIMATE SHIRAZ

Shiraz, from our so-called ‘warm climate’ regions, has been responsible for a large proportion of Australia’s success on a global scale.

It has enchanted overseas wine drinkers with its clean, fruit-forward lines during the heady ‘sunshine in a bottle’ years through the ’80s and ’90s and many other wine styles from across our land gained traction in global markets from riding on their coat-tails.

But fashion is a fickle mistress and while the wine cognesenti may not fawn over these regional wine styles as they once did, wine consumers continue to merrily imbibe the wines of our warmer climate producers – and with good reason. Their wines have never been better and have never offered such regional and subregional diversity.

From the savoury, medium-bodied beauties of the Hunter Valley to robustly proportioned multi-regional bombshells, warm climate shiraz still delivers its delicious goods.

Your task, dear reader, should you accept it, is to peel off the layers of the regional and subregional onion skin.

Today you’ll find shiraz with textures that range from light to powerful across all our warmer regions. Natty wines, whole-bunches, ‘nouveau/ joven’ styles designed to take a chill and for ‘drinkin not thinkin’, and wines that drill down deeply into subregional nuance and sense of place.

Diversity in shiraz is on point and that is a beautiful thing.

Long live Aussie shiraz!

2017 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 South Australia

The inky density and impenetrable presence that proclaim Grange are irrefutable, even in the cooler 2017 season, in which sourcing has been pulled back to the strongholds of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. It’s all here: black fruits of every kind, licorice, dark chocolate, coffee bean, coal dust, even a suggestion of fruit-mince spice. A wall of Grange tannins hold back its immense force, as finely engineered as ever. The finish holds motionless for minutes, with a stature and presence possessed only by Grange, yet at every moment upholding statuesque poise, integrity, even tang. TS.

2017 Henschke Hill of Grace Eden Valley

Grace by name, grace by nature; it’s a perfectly framed, elegant snapshot of pristine fruit, site and season. Precisely ripened berry fruits are underscored with notes of Chinese five-spice, sage, jasmine, licorice, mocha, blackberry pastille, charcuterie, wild flowers and cherry clafoutis. Pitch-perfect and elegant on the palate, the tannin-acid architecture tuned and sympatico with the pristine ancestor-vine fruit and a very long, silken finish that resonates with style and place. My goodness it’s lovely.

2019 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Hunter Valley Shiraz

A stellar wine boasting an intensity of flavour, palate-staining levels of extract and a forensic precision to the tannins that forces one to swish the wine about the mouth while chewing every ounce of nourishment from it. Subdued at first, before 2019’s ripe kit of black cherry melds with lilac florals and a long trail of pepper, Indian spice mix and charcuterie flavours. A venerable wine in the making. NG.

2019 Greenock Creek Wines Fifteen Claims Shiraz

Intense and concentrated blackberry, black plum and black cherry fruit notes with plenty of cedary oak nuance and hint of deep, dark spice, formic acid, salted black licorice, Old Jamaica chocolate, fig jam and earth. Weighty, full bodied and super-concentrated, with ripe, sandy tannins retreating back into the fruit and intense blackberry jam and a cedary plume on the long finish.

2018 Mount Pleasant 1921 Vines Old Paddock Vineyard Shiraz

High on structure and on fruit. Excellent concentration though it remains medium in weight. Plum and red cherry with hints of deeper blackberry. Earth and spice. A clovelike character. Really fresh, really firm, really good. CM.

2017 Jim Barry Wines The Armagh Clare Valley Shiraz

Largely standard vinification with individual blocks ex the Armagh Vineyard, 10 days on skins, some blocks given 3 weeks post-ferment maceration. Elegance isn’t the aim of The Armagh, but the ‘17 vintage has made it easy. Richly flavoured with dark fruits, savoury tannins balance and lengthen the palate. JH.

2018 Clarendon Hills Astralis McLaren Vale

In the clutch, where oak tannins jitter portentously around a core of savoury fruit, already exhibiting Japanese miso, boysenberry, iodine, white pepper, licorice straps, clove and turmeric. Incredibly complex, with the oak carriage still a tad hard. Make no mistake, this will deliver once in the zone. NG.

2017 Torbreck Vintners The Laird Barossa Valley

The Spinal Tap effect is in full force here, with everything turned up to 11. Impenetrable purple red in the glass, showing characters of head-spinning purity and heft; black plum, blackberry and prune notes mesh with shades of deep, exotic spice, Dutch blackstrap licorice, creme de cassis, roasting meats, espresso, graphite, cedar and polished mahogany. Profound fruit depth and purity with melt-in-the-mouth, mineral-edged tannins and a finish that carries long and proud with a solid rush of black plum and cherry compote, spice and chocolate. If you are after a powerful shiraz with finesse, this is your benchmark.

2019 Tyrrell’s Wines Old Patch Hunter Valley Shiraz

A single block of the Old Hillside vineyard, planted in 1867. Fermented gently. Whole berries. Wild yeast. Raised in a single 2700L French cask for 15 months. These top-tier single plots undergo rigorous sorting to boot, with a seasoning of circa 15% whole bunches. Medium of feel. Sappy and crunchy. Sour cherry, rosehip, bramble and root spice. An ethereal feel. Less reductive than the Johnno’s cuvée at this stage. Beautiful, with a layer of sandalwood and orange rind across a spindly tannic frame, directing the effortless flow of fruit. One direction. Long. NG.

2013 Chris Ringland Hoffmann Vineyard Shiraz Barossa Valley

Über-intense blackberry, black cherry and cassis notes jump out of the glass with hints of cherry clafoutis, clove and baking spice, blackstrap licorice, bay leaf, earth, dark soy, smoked meats and dried herbs. The fruit weight and density is peaking the meters, the tannin long and sandy fine. That hefty 16.5% alcohol is perfectly in balance, with fine acidity providing drive and frame. It’s a beast.