Castle Rock Great Southern Shiraz 2018

It’s not quite there yet but Great Southern in Western Australia is one of the country’s up and coming regions for shiraz. The cool climate, thanks to the influence of the Great Southern ocean, plus outcrops of stony soils can help local winemakers to craft outstanding wines.

Here is a good example with both attractive ripe fruit and a savoury edge. The wine is deeply coloured and a little closed and intriguing to start, needing some time to come out of its shell. Once it does there is mulberry, earth and white pepper fruits supported by quality oak. The palate is concentrated with its dark brooding fruits showing good focus but in an elegant rather than the more usual big Australian Shiraz style. Fruit is also supported by moderate tannins and then the wine finishes with leather and tobacco highlights. It is a well pitched introduction to Great Southern Shiraz that is delicious now but will also improve with some more time in the bottle. Tee it up with steak and kidney pie for a quality night in.