Watkins Cellar Reserve Shiraz Cabernet 2017

This blend combines Shiraz's bold fruit character with Cabernet's structured tannins, creating a wine that's both powerful and elegant. The marriage of these varietals allows for greater complexity - the Shiraz contributes plush plum flavours and spice, while the Cabernet adds backbone and leather notes. Blending also gives winemakers more tools to achieve balance, particularly in full-bodied styles like this Cellar Reserve.

Langhorne Creek's unique geography, with its ancient river soils and cooling lake breezes, creates ideal conditions for producing rich, full-bodied reds. The region's consistent climate allows grapes to ripen slowly and evenly, developing the concentrated flavours evident in this wine's plum and spice profile. This terroir particularly suits Shiraz blends, as the cooling influences help retain the variety's natural acidity while building impressive flavour intensity.

The 2017 vintage in South Australia was marked by ideal growing conditions that produced wines of exceptional concentration and balance. With several years of bottle age, this wine has developed the complex leather notes alongside its primary plum fruit, showing how well-made Shiraz blends evolve. The vintage's natural acidity structure means this wine still has excellent aging potential, with the tannins continuing to integrate beautifully.

The wine's rich plum fruit and spice profile make it perfect for grilled red meats, particularly lamb with rosemary or beef with pepper crusts that echo the wine's spice notes. The leather undertones and full body also complement aged cheeses and mushroom-based dishes. The wine's structure can handle bold flavours, so don't shy away from barbecued meats or hearty stews that match its intensity.

The vegan certification indicates that Watkins uses plant-based fining agents rather than traditional animal-derived products like egg whites or isinglass during clarification. This approach often results in wines that retain more of their natural character and mouthfeel. Combined with the 90-point rating, it shows that modern, ethical winemaking practices can produce exceptional quality wines without compromising flavour or structure.