Brand & Sons Old Town Single Vineyard Shiraz 2021

Thousands of words have been written about how smell has it all over taste when it comes to appreciating wine. Here is a wine that explains it perfectly, sucks you in from the first sniff with the most arousing aromatics and lifted scent, setting the scene for what follows. There are gentle florals – violet and lavender – ably assisted by spice – pepper, allspice – and enhanced by a vibrant red plum, black cherry fruit intensity. That vibrancy and freshness continues on the palate of this attractive medium-bodied young red. Oak seems to be part of the spice treat with added clove and vanilla layered upon the ripe fruit and sound tannin structure. Old Town Shiraz carries a quiet poise, a degree of elegance that isn’t always apparent in Coonawarra Shiraz which generally tends towards the more direct and confident. Fruit is sourced from old vines grown within the boundary of the Coonawarra township, whereas most Coonawarra fruit stretches further afield. There is something to be said for “Old Town” fruit which I am only now fully appreciating.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic