standout shiraz
Nine delectable food-friendly reds to see you through winter.
1 2021 ALKINA SPICE GARDEN SHIRAZ
Barossa Valley, SA
This is the most beautiful expression from the limestone and schist sections of our Spice Garden block. Succulent fruit, spice, mineral complexity, chewy tannin and concentration, while still medium-bodied.
What is unique about your style of shiraz?
A true wine of place, we sought out detail, character and individuality in this wine, excluding a more powerful clay component that obscured these elements. Fermented and matured in an unlined concrete tulip only, it’s a wine of elegance, texture and purity.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
A wine full of youthful energy, or nervosité. With its savoury inflections, exotic spice and structural tannin profile it will pair beautifully with Asian food. Decant for two hours and serve cool. Will cellar for 15 to 20 years.
$100, alkinawine.com @alkinawine
2 2016 BERESFORD GRAND RESERVE SHIRAZ
McLaren Vale, SA
Deep plum in colour with aromas of red berry fruits, vanilla and milk chocolate. Full in the palate with complex blackberry, blackcurrant and mulberry flavours with balanced tannins giving the wine structure, complexity and longevity.
What is unique about your style of shiraz?
This wine is vinified in a small open fermenter with extra time on skins to maximise colour, fruit intensity and tannin structure. It is then aged in a three-year-old French oak barrel for 16 to 18 months then matured for five years in bottle prior to release for harmony of flavour structure.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
Allow it to breathe in a decanter to unlock its aromatic potential. Inhale its intricate bouquet and indulge in small sips to savour its full-bodied, luscious flavours.
$135, beresfordestate.com.au @beresfordestate
3 2018 CAPE MENTELLE SHIRAZ
Margaret River, WA
Intense aromatics of mulberry, blackberry and blood plum draped in sweet spices. On the palate, cinnamon and nutmeg with a warm richness of fruitcake, while muscular tannins drive the powerful finish.
What is unique about your style of shiraz?
A marriage of our three vineyards, which span more than 50 years in vine age. The finely structured aromatic floral, spice notes of the Chapman vineyard combine with succulent red fruits at Crossroads, underpinned by the power and dark concentration from our oldest estate vines.
What do you love about making shiraz?
Its versatility is fun. Shiraz responds dynamically to extended skin contact and cold maceration during fermentation. We let the fruit guide how we handle each parcel.
$49, capementelle.com.au @capementelle
4 2021 LONGVIEW YAKKA SHIRAZ
Adelaide Hills, SA
Lifted aromas of white pepper, dark cherry, nutmeg, cranberry, plum skin and wet earth. The palate is bright, energetic and refreshing, cascading with silky fruit and exceptionally smooth tannins. With a typically savoury structure, this wine delivers great finesse and elegance.
What is unique about your style of shiraz?
All our shiraz is estate grown from our cool climate vineyard in the southern Adelaide Hills. We usually use a small amount of whole bunches in our shiraz ferment, so it always displays finesse, floral and spicy aromas followed by a wonderful balance on the palate.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
Pair with slow-cooked lamb and, of course, with family and friends who love shiraz that has additional complexity.
$30, longviewvineyard.com.au @longviewvineyard
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5 2021 MOUNTADAM EDEN VALLEY SHIRAZ
Eden Valley, SA
Harvested from Block 41 on the estate's eastern side. The cool High Eden site brings lovely expression to the shiraz with its dark mulberry fruits, graceful acid line and fine minerality cutting a beautiful, svelte figure.
What do you love about making shiraz?
The versatility of shiraz makes it such a great wine to work with. We have plantings across the estate over differing soils, aspects and elevation, young and old vines and on distinctive flavor spectrums which makes the winemaking process exciting each year.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
Enjoy the wine young or old and with or without food. It is soft and elegant enough to pair with something as simple as a pumpkin lasagne, but has the fruit concentration to pair with charcoal-grilled spiced brisket.
$28, mountadam.com.au @mountadam
6 2018 ROCKCLIFFE SINGLE SITE SHIRAZ
Great Southern, WA
Lifted bouquet of dark berries with subtle spicy notes. The mediumweighted palate is filled with blackberries, spices and pepper, all balanced by silky tannins.
What do you love about making shiraz?
Australian shiraz is iconic. Our fruit comes from one of the earliest plantings and we put great effort into making the wine – we split the wine into batches and then use small open fermenters. The wine is transferred to French oak for malolactic fermentation and left in barrel for up to 15 months.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
Go for rare, gamey red meats such as slow cooked venison or quail to balance with the opulent, mouth-filling tannins. Drink at 18 degrees. This will cellar for at least 10 years.
$60, rockcliffe.com.au @rockcliffewines
7 2017 STREICKER BRIDGELAND BLOCK SYRAH
Margaret River, WA
A spicy entry of red fruits and meat spice balanced with bright tannins and flavours of plum blossom and cracked allspice. A plush finish of fine tannins, hints of rosewater and coffee leave the palate awash in minerality and natural acidity.
What do you love about making shiraz?
Syrah is such a tactile, nuanced variety.
This wine enjoys a low temperature ferment with whole berries and the inclusion of 15 per cent rachis (bunch stems). The rachis, when treated gently, contributes additional perfume, tannins and flavour.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
The tannins, perfume and succulence of syrah seem to be a spiritual match with lamb. A gentle decanting, 16°C serving temperature and a healthy portion of brazed or baked lamb is a complete experience. $45, clairaultstreickerwines.com.au @clairaultstreicker
8 2021 SWEETWATER SHIRAZ
Hunter Valley, NSW
Cherry blossoms, raspberries, violets, rose petals and lavender. Underneath, gently smoked meat with rubbed herbs, sweet basil, hints of marzipan oak, cloves and earth. Medium weight with velvety tannins and cool, slightly orangey acidity.
What is unique about your style of shiraz?
The Hunter Valley is well known for its medium-bodied reds. When you try a shiraz or cabernet from Sweetwater Estate in Lower Belford you are in for something special. A distinct, elevated fruit character, strong aromatics and rich textural tannins set these single-vineyard wines apart.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
This new release wine is drinking perfectly now, however cellaring will be rewarded. Decant and serve with slow-cooked beef cheeks and truffled mashed potato. $70, sweetwaterwines.com.au @sweetwaterestatewines
9 2018 ZEMA ESTATE SHIRAZ
Coonawarra, SA
Full and rich. Savoury notes of olive and spice with attractive supporting oak in the background. The silky tannins produce a moreish finish.
What is unique about your style of shiraz?
Our Estate Shiraz is a medium-bodied, elegant expression of Coonawarra’s regionality, exhibiting distinct characteristics of vibrant red fruit flavours, refined tannins, and a long, smooth finish.
How should this wine be best enjoyed?
Our shiraz pairs perfectly with hearty dishes like grilled lamb, slow-cooked beef and dark chocolate. It will repay handsomely with up to 10 years' cellaring, although before its release we aged it in bottle for two years for smoothness and drinkability. $27, zema.com.au @zemaestate