As part of the WLDG monthly “Wine Focus” series, I wrote an introduction and overview on Australian Shiraz and, subsequently, opened several bottles for evaluation. The full text and tasting notes follows:

Long the work horse of the Australian wine industry, Shiraz is widely regarded as the most versatile and ageworthy red grape variety grown in Australia. With its roots firmly planted in Australian wine folklore dating back to the early eighteen-thirties, Shiraz is the most widely planted, profusely produced red grape that’s just as likely to be the source of a cheap “Rose’”, a remarkable Seppelt sparkling “Burgundy”, a good old Penfold’s St. Henri “Claret” or even a monumental “Rutherglen Port” and just about anything in between. Not to mention it constitutes the significant proportion of every vintage of Max Scubert’s world famous creation, Grange “Hermitage”. Thankfully, all the preceding preposterous generic stylistic references are not used these days (at least Max got the region almost right for grape variety with his precious Grange). Recent international legal agreements now preclude such ridiculous and, what I regard as, insulting label references to the great wines of France and Portugal from gracing Australian wine bottles. But for decades these generic descriptors were used almost “carte blanche” across the local wine industry as some form of “ready reckoner” for the new breed of local “punters” and their choice of, the new kid on the block, red table wine.

For the most part of its long existence in Australia, Shiraz has been put to most use in the production of fortified wine. Even today, if you see a bottle of Australian “Tawny” or “Fortified Vintage” wine languishing on a retailer’s shelf, the chances are the predominant grape used as the basis of its construction, will be Shiraz, although, it must be said, even as far back as the nineteen-thirties, Hunter Valley pioneering genius, Maurice O’Shea, produced absolutely magnificent dry Shiraz table wines at the Mount Pleasant winery. Coonawarra, now famous for their Cabernet’s, was once home, and for decades almost exclusively, to Shiraz and the great wines of the nineteen -forties and -fifties from Wynns (1955 Michael Hermitage) and Woodley’s incredible Treasure Chest Series (1949-1956) bear testimony to this grape’s role in forging the region’s reputation.

Shiraz flourishes in most areas of Australia, perhaps reflecting its warm-climate ancestry but, almost surprisingly, performs equally well in cooler regions. Aromas and flavours can be detected at either end of the spectrum - sour cherry, redcurrant, pepper, spice and even forest floor at one extreme, graduating through to the sweeter red berry fruits such as raspberry, cherry and plum, moving to the darker fruits of blueberry, blackberry to licorice, chocolate and prune at the other. With considerable time (and good provenance) the telltale signs of well-aged leather, cigar box, sweet earth, game and sometimes mushroom appear giving extra dimension and complexity, especially when aged sensibly, in well-seasoned, quality American and/or French oak.

One of the great attributes of Australian Shiraz is its ability to be blended with other great red grape varieties. Although this may be akin to some purists of mixing scotch with ice or water, Shiraz has the amazing ability to fill out and soften the mid-palate and harshness of the more austere Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of the greatest mature Australian reds I’ve encountered over the last two and a half decades have been bleen blends of these two varieties. Blending with Grenache, Mataro (Mouvedre) and, particularly over the last decade or two, Viognier have come into vogue, often in the attempt to mimick the blends employed so successfully over the decades and, in some cases, centuries in France such as Chateauneuf-des-Pape and Cote Rotie. And how could I not mention the great results from the loyal band of Aussie wineries who continue to produce wonderful sparkling Shiraz. Somewhat of an Aussie enigma, Seppelt have the quite envious and foremost reputation of making this unusual wine style since the early decades of the twentieth century and what a fine, ageworthy wine it can be.

So whether it be a big, bold and brassy, top-end South Australian Shiraz from the Barossa Valley (Penfold’s Grange), Clare Valley (Jim Barry’s The Armagh) or McLaren Vale (Coriole’s Lloyd Reserve), a gorgeously fragrantly seductive cool climate Shiraz Viognier (Canberra’s own Clonakilla), a New South Wales Hunter Valley legend from Lindemans (e.g. 1965 Bin 6600) or the occasional sensational vintage of Brokenwood’s Graveyard, a Victorian blockbuster from Heathcote (Wild Duck Creek’s Duck Muck) or Great Western (Seppelt St. Peters) or any of the new breed from Margaret River or Lower Great Southern in Western Australia, there’s plenty of variety for the hedonist to get their teeth into. At the other end of the price range, I can heartily recommend some of the bigger corporate’s efforts with wines from Burge, Lehmann’s Barossa, Saltram, Penfold’s, Orlando et al. For the bottom dweller’s there is absolutely no need to go to Yellowtail or some forlorn Gobbly-Gunk, purile, sweet crap we’re “concocting” for the “sweet-toothed” American market. This is crass marketing at its worst. It’s not even clever. It’s demeaning to me and so many other lovers of “good value” wine in this country.

The real beauty and secret of Australian Shiraz is that somewhere between the best and the worst you’ll be able to find an ocean of more than decent juice at not too high a price that will be approachable as a youngster and should improve and probably last for a lot longer than most would expect. My cellar has been built on a platform of low- to mid-priced Australian Shiraz and I’m still drinking wines dating back to 1990 that have not only held for many years but will go for some appreciable time to come. And when I drink ‘em masked, I invariably give them one helluva good rating to boot.

The 2004 Watershed Shiraz hails from Margaret River in Western Australia and weighs in at a hefty 14.5% A/V. My first hit-out with this small winery, this wine possesses a healthy dark ruby colour with purple hues, a lovely open bouquet filled with dark plums, blackberries, cherries, chocolate, cinnamon and savoury oak. The medium-full palate harbours a wealth of fruit, filling the mouth with mainly dark plums and berries with an underlying savoury streak from the fine-grained French and American oak with hints of the spices and chocolate found in the nose. Expectedly, there’s, seemingly, relatively low acidity but at no time did I detect any sense of blowsiness or lack of focus. The tannin regime meshes extremely well with the fruit and persists through to a fine, impressive finsh of some considerable duration and, it must be added, without any sense of heat from the high alcohol level. I thoroughly enjoyed this extremely well balanced, nicely honed wine for the meagre twenty bucks I paid and would recommend a further five years of cellaring for it to be at its best. 90 points

The 1992 Leasingham Classic Clare Sparkling Shiraz has been resting quietly in my passive cellar for many years and what a delight to find this little ripper of a wine in such good condition. The colour is still quite dark but the telltale signs of age are present in the outer edges. The removal of the cork revealed plenty of punch in the wine. The myriad of streams of bead were aggressive and ohso fine with plenty of froth evident even with careful pouring. The fully mature bouquet reeks of saddle leather, earth with no shortage of small black berries with a noticeable contribution from the vanillin US oak. With time in the glass, extra notes of chocolate and fresh field mushrooms were detected. Gloriously smooth and creamy in the mouth with swirling mousse providing another textural positive, this very fine wine travels though the mouth like a ballerina, weaving its web of magic to every corner. There’s still plenty of acidity for freshness and the departure is long, smooth and extremely satisfying. I can see no reason why this sparkling red won’t continue to drink well for another five to ten years, although I have suffered the disappointment of a couple of spoiled, undrinkable bottles from the original case purchase. By and by, most have been consistently nothing short of excellent, most outstanding - this bottle deserves a rating of 93 points.

Chateau Reynella Vintage Port 1972

One of my oldest fortified Shiraz from the cellar, this label’s still a benchmark for the style here in Australia. Wholly sourced from very ripe McLaren Vale grapes and made in the traditional manner, this wine may have seen better days but still provided enough enjoyment to deserve a rating of 88 points. And, above all, is testament to Aussie Shiraz being capable of lasting for many decades.

Semi-opaque brownish red with abundant rust in the edges. Lifted bouquet filled with lantana, prunes, licorice, old dusty oak and aged leather notes. Still sound and holding quite well for its age. Excessively spirity in the mouth at first, although with a decent breathe, developed some nice “creaminess” with decent flavours of licorice, bitter chocolate, sweet earth and old saddle leather. Intensely raisined, quite complex and fully mature this grand old lady displays quite reasonable length although the astringency of the spirit’s now starting to dominate. Drink yesterday.

Seppelt St. Peters Shiraz 1998

Formerly labelled as “Great Western Shiraz”, this is Seppelt’s flagship red sourced solely from their vineyard at Great Western in Western Victoria. This wine saw 18 months in new French oak.

Saturated dark ruby purple. Quiite a boisterous nose with spicy, juicy blackberries leaping from the glass with undertones of Satsuma plum, savoury French oak and a touch of lift as a top note. For its age, still incredibly youthful and elemental. The medium- to full-bodied palate boasts a wealth of old vine creamy fruit loaded with choco-berry/plummy flavour, relatively low acidity, a nice dollop of savoury/vanillin oak and quite robust tannins on a chalky finish of excellent length. With extended breathing, this wine improved dramatically, revealing more complexity and improved palate structure/integration. An extremely classy wine that needs several more years to reach peak maturity. Drink now-2020+. 92 points.

Orlando Lawsons Shiraz 1991

Another flagship label, this time from a vaunted vintage and reflecting another development stage of non gooby gunk Oz Shiraz. Sourced entirely from dry grown old vines in Padthaway, located in south-east South Australia, a little north of Coonawarra, Lawsons represents the pinnacle of Orlando’s Shiraz portfolio, a little surprising in an odd sort of a way; one would suspect the Barossa would hold that mantle, but to my my knowledge, only the odd Limited Release blend carries a similar price tag. 18 months in new American oak.

Dark ruby red, opaque purple to black core, remarkably youthful colour. Earthy, mushroomy, musky, tarry nose with a touch of dill, five spice, cardamon, iron, blood and the merest suggestion of creosote with latent dark berried fruit, cedar and anise coming to the rescue with prolonged airing. A wealth of tertiary flavour, similar to that found in the bouquet greets the palate; there is undisputable length but little in the way of primary fruit. Understated tannins, a creamy texture and melted acidity provide astute counterbalance. As the wine sits, the palate fills out beautifully with the tertiary flavors picking up more leather and hints of dusty plum and blackberry fruit following through to a fine, savoury sustained finish. Fully mature but will hold for at least the next four or five years. By far, the most developed bottle of this wine I’ve opened thus far. 91 points.

The Rothbury Estate Brokenback Shiraz 1998

The Rothbury Estate, established in 1968 by (the late) wine industry guru, Len Evans, is a medium-sized Hunter Vallery winey, now a pawn on the gigantic Fosters Group chessboard. Rothbury, probably best known for some glorious unoaked Semillons from the seventies and eighties, created considerable attention and a degree of notoriety (mainly from the South Australian wine fraternity) with this wine, winning the prestigious Max Schubert Trophy at an Adelaide Wine Show for the best red wine of the show, a feat a Hunter wine had never achieved before (or since for that matter).

Transluscent medium ruby with a hint of rust and pink in the edge. Strong whiff of cinnamon upon pouring, followed by a most attractive bouquet of cedar, wet earth, cherry and a touch of amaretto. Medium-bodied, flavours mimicking those found in the bouquet, silky entry into mouth, blessed with a very fine tannin structure and extremely well-honed acidity. Great focus, fantastic line in the mouth, exuding a rare elegance, an expansive, soft but authoritative finish, closing with a hint of bitter chocolate and tremendous carry. Outstanding wine. The definitive non-gobbly/gookie Aussie Shiraz and if tasted blind would be almost impossible to identify as a warmer-climate Hunter red, being, most impressively euro-centric (using a Tim York descriptor) in nature. Drink now–2015+. 93 points.

Seppelt Original Sparkling Shiraz 1998

A blend of Barossa and McLaren Vale (South Australian Shiraz) fruit matured in large oak casts for sixteen months followed by a secondary fermentation in the bottle on yeast lees for a further 18 months. 14% A/V and sealed with a traditional champenoise cork.

A youthful dark ruby colour. Persistent fine streams of infintisimally small beading. Some reticence on the nose with enticing aromas of blackberry, raspberry and sweet earth with a twist of musk and spice adding extra complexity. Lovely entry into the mouth, swirling mousse, initial flavours of blackcurrant gradating to cherry with dusty, savoury oak, fine but quite pronounced, tannins unfold and some bright acidity providing a lengthy mouth-puckering finish. A quite excellent example of this unusual and somewhat controversial red sparkling wine, just lacking some of the dimensions and complexities required to merit an outstanding rating. Purchased for a meagre ten bucks a bottle, this wine will last for several years but I’m doubtful if it will improve much. Solid, most enjoyable but no better than 90 points. Drink now-2012.

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