Wirra Wirra Sexton's Acre Shiraz 2004

Deep purple with a narrow rim and an almost black core, deep dark and brooding. Intense blackcurrant fruit, developing white pepper nuances and some lovely coffee, chocolate and vanilla notes on the nose. Quite well integrated tannins on the palate, a wine made for drinking at this relatively young age (though not as young as some given that the 2006 vintage is out!) A lovely smooth silky mouthfeel and some slightly bitter notes of coffee and liquorice finish off to a medium length wine. Pretty good really, not quite up there with the Sainsbury's TTD Cabernet, but that is no shame in itself. (83)

Sainsbury's Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

You may remember that this is on offer in Sainsbury's, and that I've heard on the grapevine that it's suprisingly good - so I bought a bottle to find...
And yes, it is really very good - it makes sense really it's made by Katnook a really good maker, and the fruit is sourced from Coonawarra, rather than one of the mass production areas of Murray Darling and Riverland and compared to a lot of it's rivals it's got a little bit of age - if you look around the budget Australian wines in the supermarket chances are that the majority of them will be 2005 with a smattering of 2006 - in fact I'd go so far as to say that I think this is the best value Cabernet to be had in the UK right now.
A deep purple core, with aromas of blackcurrant, vanilla, oak and a slight minty/eucalyptus with high, but soft and integrated tannins and flavours of blackcurrant and coffee. Acidity is bang on giving the wine lovely balance - I was a little worried by the 14% alcohol, but you know what? This wine carries it off with aplomb - it really is delicious and if you want to spend £6 on a bottle of wine you'd be hard pressed to find anything better - the one thing that bothered me was the back label - "consume in 1 year after purchase" - you what? Cabernet? Drink when less than 4 years old? Are you sure? Now it may be that they expect you to store this upright next to a cooker - in which case storage may not happen - and it does have a synthetic cork so ageing for a long time may not happen - but it might - and it's got to be good for 3 years minimum I'd have thought - this is something that's not going to go away - so it's something I'm going to look at around the place and try and find some answers. Watch this space!

St Hallet Blackwell Shiraz 2002 (WBW)

This is not the very top of the range, but it is still pretty good- sure it's probably not in Grange league - not that I've ever had the chance to try - it is however still pretty blooming good. It may even not be as good as the celebrated Old Block (another on my "to do" list). This fits neatly between the St. Faith entry level Shiraz and the Old Block - a clear step up from the former. This was packed with aromas of vanilla, pepper and blackberry and plums and tasted every bit as good as it smelled. Sometimes wine is nice and sometimes it is really exciting - and this for me was exciting. Ready to drink now, but it would equally last another 5-7 years - the problem being it will be brilliantly nice at every stage - none better than the other - just different - so when to drink it?! (88)

Woodstock - The Stocks Shiraz 2001 (25/12/06)

Deep purple with raspberries, blackcurrant and white pepper spice on the nose with flavours of vanilla and blackcurrant. Grippy tannins and wonderful balance and poise - a big Aussie stunner that lets you know it's there and still has you coming back for more! A fantastic long finish and just enough acidity to keep the beast in check. (88)

Brown Brothers Tarrango 2002 (29/12/03)

A red that when chilled tastes surprisingly like a white wine! Light and fruity - an ideal Summer BBQ quaffer when chilled yet reduced so often during the cold winter months (I wonder why?!) All redcurrant and red cherry flavours - a little like Beaujolais without the pear drops and bubblegum. (80)

Wolf Blass Shiraz Cabernet 2002 (27/12/03)

Deep purple with a spicy bouquet, and tons of oak and spice in the mouth - just a little fruit - a little uninteresting. (76)

Rosemount

Much has been said elsewhere of the demise of Rosemount - a couple of years ago I decided to find out for myself if it had all gone so bad.

Rosemount Shiraz Cabernet 2002 (3/1/04)
Now I remember the time when this was a very decent bottle, at a really decent price - that was 15 years ago and the price is now less than it was then so the wine inside the bottle must be a great deal cheaper. I had read of the demise of Rosemount - but I thought - maybe - just maybe it would still be ok - and that was what it was OK - it used to be lovely - now well I wasn't sick drinking it - and it wasn't offensive but good - no! Spice and black fruits - no real complexity and no real depth - all round disappointing. (78)

Rosemount Grenache Shiraz 2002 (19/02/04)
An old favourite - see above! Same problem here - just not what it used to be and now very much an also ran! Cherrys and Raspberries, smooth but a very short finish. (78)

Brown Brothers Late Harvest Muscat 2003

A sweet muscat from Brown Brothers - but don't confuse this with the unctuous liqueur Muscat that Brown Brothers also make, as opposed to being dark and brooding this is a much lighter affair. Golden hay coloured with a fresh and youthful grapey, melon and granny smiths on the nose followed up by honey, grapes and dried apricots on in the mouth, medium sweet moving towards sweet, with great balancing acidity and a long finish. 82/100

Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

I'm normally a little skeptical about Californian Cabernet, a lot of what I've been given in the past has been either bland and uninteresting or totally over cooked - and I've often seen it as just poor value. This however breaks the mould somewhat - I tried it having read reviews in Decanter magazine (www.decanter.com) and picked up a bottle in Sainsbury's (www.sainsbury.co.uk if you really need that much help!) for about £7 which I didn't think was too bad. As you'd expect from a Californian Cabernet it's a full flavoured fruit fest - but it also manages to get in there with some lovely complexity, cassis fruit with touches of leather and mint give it balance and somehow a little finesse. On the palate the aromas develop beautifully with the addition of a little oakyness which adds to the power. Drink this with beef, and probably only beef (unless you are a fan of horse!!) and the rarer the better - but it will reward you and is good enough to last another 5 years if you can wait that long!

Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

Fantastic - this is everything an Aussie Cabernet should be, deep ruby coloured, aromas of blackcurrant, chocolate and mint and developing the extra complexity of leather in your mouth - this is wonderful, as often is the case with Cabernet, it will be even more wondeful given a bit further aging, but even now it is wonderful - if you try this give it a good few hours in a decanter first, and better still double decanter it to get as much air exposure as you can to really open it up - then you'll have something really lovely on your hands. Decanter magazine gave this 5* and I can't really fault them on this showing. I'd love to try it again in say 8-10 years to see how it had developed because there is just a touch of tightness to it and the tannins can be a little over zealous if you're not eating it with food. Available from www.thebottleneck.co.uk (£19.99) http://www.philglas-swiggot.co.uk/ (£26.50) (www.oxfordwine.co.uk)

Cape Mentelle Shiraz 2002

Another wine tasted at the Moet Hennessy tasting organised by the Oxford Wine Company (www.oxfordwine.co.uk) this was one of my favourite reds of the evening - this was very decent Shiraz for around £13 a bottle. Very complex it gave of strong aromas of pepper, blackberry plums and oak. This is definately a hefty wine, aged for 18 months in oak, a mixture of both French and American of which 30% is new - and the wine can certainly take it. Cape Mentelle themselves give this vintage the highest rating of any (5* - and yes they do rate their others as low as 1* (1997)) .
As you would expect from a Shiraz, this is full bodied and slightly purple in colour, with high levels of tannin (though these are softening off nicely) and it is high in alcohol and very full flavoured with oak, pepper, blackcurrant flavours - this is great now but would certainly keep for a while yet! Buy from www.thedrinkshop.com , or have it with a meal at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Other vintages available elsewhere. (www.oxfordwine.co.uk)

Ringbolt Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

This was another stunning Aussie Cabernet - this time from the cooler Margaret River region - this was a 2003 vintage as was really very good indeed and at under £10 a bottle was a complete bargain from Tesco (www.tesco.com). This exudes power ful aromas of blackcurrant, spice and leather - there are plenty of soft tannins to go around and I reckon you could leave this in a cool dark place and come back to it in 10 years and find yourself with something exceptional that you've forgotten about in the back of your cellar or garage. But... at the price it is why bother keeping it when youcan just drink it! The cassis fruit is complemented by eucalyptus giving it added complexity and a deliciousness more associated with wines that are £5 more expensive - this is a definite must try for any Cabernet lover and reminded me somewhat of the Cabernet from Cape Mentelle I tasted recently (more on that later though!) So for now this goes down as one of my best buy Cabernet's of the year so far and I reckon it'll still be in the running come the end of the year.

Zonte's Footstep Shiraz Viognier 2004

This is on the face of it an interesting combination, a mixture of the spicey and powerful black grape, Shiraz with a touch of fruity white Viognier added to give it extra complexity and it certainly does that. This wine has won awards all over the place, and is the same mix as found in many Cote Rotie wines from the Northern Rhone (and which sell for a seriously hefty price). In a wine this comes across as a little strange as there is a definate git of spicey black fruit from the word go, but as the wine develops in your mouth a soft apricot flavour starts to come through. Now I'm not a fan of apricots so for me this was where it started to go wrong, however just how this can win so many awards and be favoured by so many is something of a mystery - still it's not going to be to everyones taste - and certainly not mine - go out and buy something less digusting instead!

Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Semillon 2005

From Margaret River, this is a Bordeaux style blend of white grapes and comes from one of the most temperate regions in Australia, whose temperature is regulated by the Indian Ocean and the cooling breeze associated with it (a maritime climate). This is a pale wine, with aromas of grapefruit and gosseberry with a slight honeyed character and has a slightly smokey flavour of citrus fruits. It's pretty good stuff, though personally I'd be more inclined to spend the same sort of cash and buy something perhaps a little fresher - it just seemed to lack that special zing, something that made me go wow, I want this again. It's one of those that I'd probably drink again, but I'd probably not spend my own money on it! Available from a host of retailers across the country, including www.shjones.com and www.oxfordwine.co.uk for around £10.50 a bottle.

Hollick Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

Wow! I was really impressed by this - fantastic Aussie Cabernet from Coonawarra. 2002 was the first vintage of this wine to be produced due to the excellent vintage conditions (up 'til then blends had been produced at this price point) - and what a good job they did it too! The vines producing this wine were planted in 1975 so they are starting to be fantastic. The wine itself is a bright ruby red, blasckcurrent and mint aromas and flavours of cassis and mint on a long finish. This is full bodied and excellent value for money at around £12-£13 a bottle - if more people tried stuff like this then Jacob's Creek could find themselves losing a significant amount of market share! Whilst great now - give it up to 10 years in the cellar and the firm tannins will soften out further - but I can't see myself waiting that long if there's only one bottle in the wine rack! I bought mine from S.H.Jones in Bicester (www.shjones.com) but the 2003 is also available from www.surf4wine.co.uk .

St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 2002

This is the type of Shiraz that could open the batting - sure it's probably not in Grange league - not that I've ever had the chance to try - it is however still pretty blooming good. It may even not be as good as the celebrated Old Block (another on my "to do" list). This fits neatly between the St. Faith entry level Shiraz and the Old Block - a clear step up from the former. This was packed with aromas of vanilla, pepper and blackberry and plums and tasted every bit as good as it smelled. Sometimes wine is nice and sometimes it is really exciting - and this for me was exciting. Ready to drink now, but it would equally last another 5-7 years - the problem being it will be brilliantly nice at every stage - none better than the other - just different - so when to drink it?!

Banrock Station Cabernet Shiraz Reserve 2004

This was something of a surprise for me, often Reserve wines from the New World aren't worthy of the name (and it doesn't mean anything anyway) so I wasn't sure what to expect with this, what I got was a deep purple coloured wine with pronounced aromas of blackcurrant, pepper and spice and found a great balance between fruit, acidity and tannin on the palate to give great blackcurrant fruit with just a hint of pepper, spice and oak - all in all at the price paid it was a great bargain and for once a New World Reserve worthy of being so called. A joy!

Banrock Station NV Sparkling Shiraz

What an odd thing - a full bodied, fruity shiraz - only sparkling. Made using the traditional method employed in Champagne amongst other places this is deep purple in colour, and although the wine is still developing, the blackcurrents hit you on the palate - almost like fizzy alcoholic ribena! Seriously though, whilst it is a little odd, and perhaps a little sweet - this is one of those things that everyone ought to try at least once - and for those people who aren't too keen on Champagne or dry sparkling white - this could be your answer. My advice is to give it a go - it's not exactly expensive (around £6.50 a bottle) and I though it was lovely.

Brown Brothers Barbera 2001

What a find! Barbera is native to Italy and some excellent wines are produced in Piedment in the North West of the country, most notably in Alba and Asti. I was introduced to this variety by an American friend with a £20 bottle of Barbera d'Alba from the Summertown Wine Cafe which was simply amazing and certainly the best £20 bottle of wine I've had. I then bought Il Monello Barbera d'Asti 2003 for about £8 in Oddbins and found the same exciting flavours and aromas - but without much finesse or complexity and a little too acidic for my liking.
So having tasted the Barbera from Brown Brothers briefly at the London Wine show (see below) I've bought a bottle and can report wonderful cherry and spice aromas which follow on the palate, cinamon and nutmeg waft at you as you inhale and at £6.65 a complete steal - so much so that the wife has declared it our new house red! Buy it from SH Jones or online. (www.shjones.co.uk) 17.5/20