Curator Wine Company Marananga Vineyard Shiraz 2021

The sub-region of Marananga now graces many a bottle of Barossa Valley Shiraz. Situated close to the centre of the Valley’s floor, the weather is warm and dry, the soils are old, and the Shiraz style is quite singular in nature. This ’21 shiraz shows all the Marananga hallmarks from the dense and deep purple hues to the lifted aromas of mulberry, blueberry, black fruits and Middle Eastern spices. Best to give this some air to fully open and reveal. This will also allow time for some of that impressive ball of tannic energy to loosen up. It runs long and firm through the wine with an astringent dryness to close. Generous in flavour with a touch of earthy savouriness and some flashes of pepper and ironstone on the back palate, this is an impressive Shiraz.

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