Shirazzle Dazzle 3.0
- Mixed
- Various
This achingly edgy mixed six has been sourced with the utmost care and precision, and each wine deserves a Homer-style odyssey written about it. So we did a bit of writing, but not too much (we hope). The proof is in the drinking, as they say, and don’t let words get in the way of you going on this vinous adventure. You’re going to love every minute.
Every pack includes a bottle of each of the following so-mod-it-hurts shiraz:
Red
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- Shiraz
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- Yarra Valley
- Shiraz
- Yarra Valley
This is full-on funk. If you’re a fan of barnyard kinda aromas with a truckload of berries on top, this is your bag. 100% whole bunch ferment has led to loads of dark cherry, wild florals, with a touch of smoke and stemminess to round it out. The palate is berry-driven but savoury and drying. Very fresh, very in your face. Brace yourself.
Red
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- Shiraz
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- Adelaide Hills
- Shiraz
- Adelaide Hills
Halliday called this “a wonderful wine to settle in with”, and when I taste this I can’t help but imagine misty afternoons in the Hills at a cellar door I used to work at. It was a quiet kind of place, and you'd either have a busload of tourists or none. When there were none (and the cellar door was spick and span), you could occasionally find me settling in with a glass of their shiraz, and this wine takes me back to that kind of comfort. It’s just the perfect balance of ripeness and structure; the epitome of generosity and balance. The right amount of oak, lots of spice and earth, but loads of fleshy plum and an unmistakably velvety texture. If you can find a velvet couch to match you’re one up on me, but you’re onto a winner either way.
Red
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- Shiraz
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- Margaret River
- Shiraz
- Margaret River
This tiny side project comes from Richard Burch, the son of the famous Burch family of WA. This a silky, savoury and biodynamic-fresh approach to Margaret River shiraz. It’s an effortless medium-bodied shiraz. Such a lovely wine and a pleasure to drink. Halliday says: “Scent, personality, life. Rather than challenge it brings you along with it.” Let’s go.
Red
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- Shiraz
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- Adelaide Hills
- Shiraz
- Adelaide Hills
“Looks like a weighty version of a cool climate wine, which is exactly what it is,” says Wine Buyer Beth. “Plushness in spades. Luxurious velvet feel without the associated alcohol.” Like perfectly toasted raisin bread to me: sweet chocolatey raisins, toast with no hint of char, a little sourdough breadiness, dry and textural palate - the whole kit. Cover that in blood plum and raspberry jam and we’re getting pretty close. It’s medium-bodied, supple, and subtle in its complexities. Keeps revealing layer after layer.
Red
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- Shiraz
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- Heathcote
- Shiraz
- Heathcote
Heathcote reds are dichotomous, with very different subregional characters. You can get the 17.5 per cent-ers up north, or the more medium-bodied savoury mouth-fillers from the south. This wine meets in the middle, with a foot in both camps. Or a vineyard in each, at least. So it’s the best of both of the Heathcote worlds, from both Shelmerdine’s southern Tooborac vineyard, on granite-based soil, and the close-planted Greenstone vineyard, on rich 550-million Precambrian red soils to the north. Made with finesse and structure in mind - and ceramic eggs and old oak barrels in the winery - the result lives up to the dream. It’s savoury and graphitey, spicy and perfumed; elegant, full of red and black berries, spice and licorice. This is intense, incredibly well balanced and absolutely moreish. Pack me a picnic, let’s go to Heathcote.
Red
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- Shiraz
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- McLaren Vale
- Shiraz
- McLaren Vale
Decant this. A nice little bit of reduction. Bright red plums, a bit of blackberry jam, lighter than you’d expect but still a punchy mid-weight. Reminds me of sitting on a pottery wheel. That wonderful wet clay aroma that evokes creativity, follows onto a silky-clean palate with loads of fruit. Bright, fresh, crackly. Mikey even said “zippy”, which you don’t often hear as a descriptor for Vale shiraz. “In the context of what it is,” he clarified. But still, zippy! You go, Jericho. So said Halliday: “Winemaking of the highest quality; a star in the making.” And Campbell Mattinson: “Perfect ‘any time, any where’ red.”